Former CNN anchor Don Lemon launched into a bizarre, explosive rant blaming white men as the “real issue” behind mass violence in America.
“White men, are you okay? You’re sending troops, National Guard to cities,” Lemon said on the latest episode of his podcast. “You keep talking about ooh, Chicago and black-on-black crime. I wanna know: White men, are you okay? Because that is the real issue here.”
“This country keeps waking up to bodies in the pews, blood on the floor, gunfire in public places and the faces behind the trigger looks the same nearly every single time,” he added.
The 59-year-old — who is married to a white man — doubled down on his claim, saying, “This is just the truth, I don’t care if you get mad about it.”
Lemon’s unhinged rant was unleashed during his spiel about the federal troop deployments to Democrat-led cities and the mass shootings in North Carolina and Michigan over the weekend.
“White men, something is broken, something is cracked, deep inside you. So many of you believe the answer is violence. Are you listening?” he said. “I hope I’m saying it loud enough for the people in the back.”
His comments singling out white men in America received fierce backlash online — with many sharing the clip from his podcast, labeling him a racist.
“Don Lemon says that White men are ‘broken’ and that they believe ‘violence is the answer,’” Libs of TikTok wrote on X. “Don Lemon is a racist.”
Conservative political commentator Benny Johnson wrote that Lemon had a “complete racist meltdown over white men” and pointed out his marriage to a white man, Tim Malone.
Others also branded him a hypocrite for his rant, citing his marriage to Malone and sharing pictures of the two together in the comments of the clips.
Lemon and Malone, 40, tied the knot last year in a lavish ceremony at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, five years after their engagement in 2019.
Lemon had once been a primetime and later a morning CNN news anchor, but was abruptly ousted following a slew of scandals involving the anchor.
He claimed to be blindsided by the news and said he was informed he lost his job through his agent in a post on X at the time.
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned after 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have the decency to tell me directly,” Lemon wrote.
“At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.”
However, CNN posted a rebuttal to his claims and posted that his “statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate.”
“He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
Before being let go by the network, Lemon also received criticism after saying on air that 51-year-old GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was not “in her prime.”
He also came under fire for allegedly “screaming” at co-host Kaitlan Collins off camera during an ugly incident that has left the cast and crew rattled ever since.
Following his departure from CNN, Elon Musk offered him a show on X last year, but Musk canceled the program before the show’s debut. Musk fired Lemon hours after a testy sit-down meant to be the show’s premiere episode.
The former TV news journalist has since become an independent media personality and hosts the podcast “The Don Lemon Show.”
