CNN news anchor Don Lemon was allowed back on air on Wednesday, but will undergo formal training following sexist comments he made last week, according to an email sent to employees by the network’s chief executive, Chris Licht.
Last Thursday, during an on-air discussion on ‘CNN This Morning’, Lemon argued that 51-year-old former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, ‘isn’t in her prime’. The anchor was responding to Haley’s call for mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75, made during a speech in which she declared her candidacy for the presidency.
Lemon justified his comment by declaring that women are only ‘considered to be in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s’.
Female co-anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins called the remarks into question, but Lemon proceeded to advance his argument, which saw him taken off air.
According to a report by CNN, Lemon’s remarks were met with internal and external backlash during Friday’s editorial meeting.
In his memo to employees, Licht described Lemon’s comments as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unfair to his co-hosts’.
‘I sat down with Don and had a frank and meaningful conversation’, the memo went on to say. ‘He has agreed to participate in formal training, as well as continuing to listen and learn. We take this situation very seriously’.
Lemon apologised to his co-workers during a virtual meeting. ‘When I make a mistake, I own it. And I own this one as well’, he said.
‘I believe that women of any age … can do whatever they set their minds to’, he continued, before citing his relationships with various female hosts to justify his claim that ‘The people I seek counsel from most in this organisation are women’.
[Photo: Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images]