Shortly before his interview, Lemon, 58, revealed that Musk, 52, canceled the one-time CNN anchor’s upcoming self-titled show on X after just one unaired episode was recorded.
When asked why this occurred, Lemon told former colleague Erin Burnett: ‘That’s a good question for Elon Musk, quite franklin. What happened? I don’t know. As I said in my statement, I felt really good about the interview.’
In the clips that have surfaced from the piece, which Lemon described as ‘tense at moments,’ the pair covered a wide-range of topics, including Musk’s use of drugs, his lack of support for Joe Biden and issues over moderation at X.
CNN aired footage showing Lemon asking Musk about his recreational use of horse tranquilizer ketamine. The Tesla founder’s use of the drug has been widely reported on and he himself has admitted to taking it.
‘The reason I mentioned ketamine with prescription on the X platform is because I thought: “Maybe this is something that could help other people.” That’s why I mentioned it. Obviously I’m not a doctor but I would say that if someone has depression issues, they should consider talking to their doctor about ketamine.’
CNN aired footage showing Lemon asking Musk about his recreational use of horse tranquilizer ketamine
Burnett went on to air a tweet from Musk made days before, in which the outspoken South African complained about migrants changing the political climate of the US
After the clip aired, Lemon said that he wouldn’t have brought up the drug use had Musk not already admitted to it, in the wake of a Wall Street Journal expose that accused him of micro dosing at work and full dosing while partying.
In another exchange, Musk described his recent meeting with ex-President Donald Trump in Florida.
Musk said that he was having breakfast at a friends’ home when Trump happened to stop by. ‘He did most of the talking,’ Musk joked.
Lemon pressed Musk by asking him if he would be paying any of Trump’s legal bills and asking if the Republican nominee asked for any money, including a political donation. Musk said no.
Lemon then asked if Musk was leaning towards wither Trump or Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Musk said his only ‘lean’ was ‘away from Biden.’
The interview became tense when Lemon asked Musk about moderation amid the rise in hate speech since the SpaceX founder took over Twitter in October 2022.
Musk has long championed the platform as a ‘digital town square.’ The billionaire earned huge criticism when he responded to a post endorsing the white supremacist ‘great replacement theory.’
Musk stressed that he didn’t need to answer questions about his endorsement of the theory. ‘Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it.’
‘I’m criticized constantly, I could care less,’ he added.
The short-lived series, called ‘The Don Lemon Show,’ was scrapped shortly after the interview was filmed, leaving Lemon without a platform again.
Lemon went on to outline the encounter in a scathing statement Wednesday, before providing more detail to Burnett. It served as the first time he appeared on CNN since his firing, during which brass reportedly paid him more than $24million.
‘As I said in my statement, I felt really good about the interview,’ Lemon told Burnett.
‘I said to him as we were doing the interview – and it was tense at moments – “I think it’s good that people see folks like you and I who have different worldviews come together and talk.”
‘As he says, have free speech,’ he specified.
‘Apparently that doesn’t matter to Elon Musk.
‘It’s just for talking points for him – or rhetoric,’ Lemon continued, appearing stoic despite the cancelled contract.
‘Because it doesn’t seem to matter when it’s about him – questions about him. From people like me.’
He concluded: ‘Free speech is only important when someone you don’t like, or I would say someone who doesn’t have your same point of view… if they’re allowed to speak freely and to say their point of view.’
‘He didn’t quite seem to understand that he did,’ Lemon answered, before citing how the billionaire has faced accusations from the Anti-Defamation League and others of tolerating antisemitic messages on the platform since purchasing it – leading to a public apology and a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau with a rabbi, Ben Shapiro and a Holocaust survivor (seen here)
Lemon revealed earlier in the day that his new X show has been canned by Elon Musk after the billionaire became ‘so upset’ by their unreleased interview
Burnett went on to air a tweet from Musk made days before, in which the outspoken South African complained about migrants changing the political climate of the US.
‘Exactly,’ Musk wrote, replying to a post from an alt-right political theorist that claimed US officials’ counting of migrants in the census ‘incentivizes Democrats to continue the [migrant] invasion in order to build up power.’
He went on: ‘Increasing illegals boosts Dem voting power, causing them to recruit even more!
‘If Dems win President, House & Senate (with enough seats to overcome filibuster), they’ll grant citizenship to all illegals & America will become a permanent one-party deep socialist state.’
The statement is somewhat in line with the ideas of The Great Replacement Theory, which preaches that white European populations are being demographically and culturally replaced by non-white peoples – especially from Muslim countries.
The ideology – concocted by French author Renaud Camus in 2010 – picked up steam on then-Twitter prior to Musk’s takeover, before being censored by Musk’s predecessors.
Upon taking the helm in 2022, Musk made it his mission to create a platform devoid of censorship, before going on to allow such posts to be seen censor-free.
The far-right activist who made the assertion Musk agreed with, for instance, had been banned before Musk bought the website for $44billion.
Hours before, Lemon took to his own X profile to slam Musk’s decision as an attack on his free speech, after which Musk countered by insisting Lemon is free to share his show on the platform ‘without’ censorship.
However, the Tesla CEO quickly added, ‘we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships.’
Meanwhile, Lemon, after losing out on what was likely a lucrative contract, told his 1.4million followers of the ill-fated encounter: ‘We had a good conversation. Clearly [Musk] felt differently,’
He went on: ‘His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.’
‘Hardcore questions were asked,’ Lemon added in a separate post shortly after, declining to say what it was that angered Musk.
Journalist Kara Swisher, a contributor at New York Magazine, posited that the billionaire took offense to ‘questions about his ketamine use’, after insiders told the Wall Street Journal Musk regularly micro-doses ketamine for depression and takes full doses at parties
Lemon – who went on to proudly advertise his return to the network where he spent 17 years later in the day – has yet to produce the full-clip.
The called-off show’s first episode, for now, remains unseen.
