Don Lemon didn’t just want a partnership with X, he wanted to run the show with a series of outlandish demands that he control and censor news content and talent across the entire platform, DailyMail can reveal .com.
Last week, Lemon, 58, was unceremoniously excluded from negotiations for a partnership with the social media platform following a car crash interview with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, 52.
Today, DailyMail.com can reveal that the real reason Musk ended the deal was his belief that Lemon “wants censorship so much that he can taste it.”
For his part, Lemon claimed he was fired because Musk reneged on his commitment to “free speech.” But according to a source close to the matter, it was Lemon who wanted to restrict freedom of expression.
Last week, Elon Musk severed ties with Don Lemon after they were in talks for Lemon to have his own show on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk returned to the multimillion-dollar deal hours after their interview, during which Lemon asked him about hate speech on Twitter and his drug use.
The source said: “If you look through Don’s demands, they oscillate between luxurious, far-fetched and censorious.
“Luxurious is you ask for a shiny new car (the Tesla Cybertruck) and you ask for a $5 million upfront payment.
“Far-out is one of its requirements: to be the first podcast in space.”
DailyMail.com has seen documents outlining Lemon’s initial demands. He confirms that, despite prior denials from Lemon’s representatives, those demands included a $5 million advance, a $10 million annual marketing commitment from X, to be the first podcast to broadcast from space and receive a Tesla Cybertruck.
The source continued: “Where this turns to censorship is that Don wanted to control and give his opinion on every creator that came on the platform.
“He wanted to have a voice in what kind of information would be put out on the platform.”
“Separately, he wanted to make decisions regarding platform policies.”
The requests state that Lemon must be consulted by X “when making decisions relating to news content on the platform/any policy changes regarding content”; that it receive “a percentage of the budget on first year on
Musk shared his thoughts after Lemon opened up about their strained relationship during Friday’s episode of The View.
DailyMail.com has seen documents outlining Lemon’s initial requests, which included a Tesla Cybertruck.
Lemon claimed he was fired because Musk reneged on his commitment to “free speech” – but a source claims it was Lemon who wanted to control the content.
The source explained: “So they have these requests and they are working on them, but nothing has been signed.” Then he sits down with Elon and Elon says, “I see where you’re going and I don’t like it.”
That moment came during the first episode of The Don Lemon show, when Lemon pushed his putative boss to refuse to remove content the broadcaster described as “hate speech,” and criticized Musk for not use of “better content moderation”.
Musk responded that X removes anything illegal but never goes further than the letter of the law. He told Lemon: “Moderation is a propaganda word for censorship. »
Visibly frustrated, he continued: “You desperately want censorship. You want censorship so bad that you can taste it.
At that time, the source told DailyMail.com: “It feels like, based on the demands, based on this interview and the way it all feels, they’re not going to participate in any more a conversation with Don.”
The rug has been pulled.
Lemon was fired hours after the one-on-one with Musk calling the presenter “boring” and “disappointing.”
The hour-and-a-half-long interview included tense exchanges about Musk’s political leanings, his use of prescription ketamine, his meeting with Trump and the so-called promotion of the Great Replacement Theory.
The source added: ‘Was Elon frustrated? Yes. Did Don show his cards? Yes.’
Musk then wrote about X: “Even though I think Don (lemon emoji) is a pompous jerk talking nonsense, he is still free to upload his show to
The first Don Lemon Show interview broadcast on
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for X said: “X cannot comment on the terms discussed between Don Lemon and Show and X.”
Lemon went on The View on Friday where he revealed that he was able to glean more information about Musk’s relationship with Trump.
Lemon went on The View on Friday where he revealed that he was able to glean more information about Musk’s relationship with Trump, which has been in the spotlight following reports that the two billionaires met.
“Has he shown whether he would support Trump?” » asked host Alyssa Griffin.
“He talked about the meeting, why he came down, the context and the location and he talked to me about what the former president had to say,” Lemon responded.
Musk met with Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, fueling speculation that he could be about to provide a much-needed cash infusion to the presidential candidate’s campaign.
Few details have been released about the meeting, although Musk publicly denied he would support a candidate shortly afterward.
In a clip aired on The View, Lemon asked Musk about X users and hate speech, including the “Great Replacement Theory” that Musk himself amplified.
The “great replacement theory” advocates that white European populations are demographically and culturally replaced by non-white peoples – particularly from Muslim countries.
But the billionaire was unimpressed and refused to answer the question directly, telling Lemon he didn’t have to agree to the interview.
“I don’t have to answer journalists’ questions. Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on Platform X and you asked for it. I get criticized all the time for not caring,” Musk said.