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Don Lemon Blames White Men for His CNN Firing in Substack

Megyn Kelly Show · Colbert's PAINFUL Goodbye, Lemon's Whining About White Men, and Trump's Hilarious Rant, with Stu Burguiere | Ep. 1322 · May 21, 2026
Don Lemon Blames White Men for His CNN Firing in Substack
Megyn Kelly Show
Megyn Kelly Show
Colbert's PAINFUL Goodbye, Lemon's Whining About White Men, and Trump's Hilarious Rant, with Stu Burguiere | Ep. 1322
"The executive producer who ran The Late Show for years eventually left and somehow landed in my world. That same person from that same TV orbit eventually became my boss at CNN and fired me. It was one of the most spectacular examples of a white man failing up that I have witnessed in this industry. Profoundly unqualified, visibly incompetent, Elevated anyway."
Former CNN host Don Lemon published a Substack blaming his firing on white male executives, specifically Chris Licht who came from Stephen Colbert's show. Kelly countered with data showing Lemon's primetime show averaged just 600,000 viewers compared to her 3 million, and his morning show became CNN's lowest-rated in a decade before offensive comments led to his termination.

About this episode

Host Megyn Kelly delivered a wide-ranging episode focused on the collapse of legacy media, Hollywood's continued woke agenda, and disturbing developments in both American and British politics. The show opened with extensive coverage of Stephen Colbert's Late Show cancellation, with Kelly dismissing the narrative that it resulted from political persecution rather than the show's reported $40 million annual losses and cratering ratings. She highlighted pathetic sendoffs from Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, and Jon Stewart, all blaming Trump rather than Colbert's unfunny TDS-driven content. Kelly particularly eviscerated Don Lemon's self-aggrandizing Substack post claiming he was fired for asking conservatives hard questions, when in reality his primetime show drew just 600,000 viewers and his morning show became CNN's lowest-rated in a decade. Guest Stu Burguiere joined to discuss Spencer Pratt's LA mayoral campaign, noting Pratt's revelation that Second Amendment issues drove his Republican registration after receiving death threats. They analyzed viral campaign ads showing closeted Pratt supporters in liberal LA. The episode took a darker turn with detailed coverage of 18-year-old Henry Nowak's death in the UK, where police arrested him for racial abuse allegations while he died from a stabbing, with officers refusing to believe his pleas that he'd been stabbed in the lung. Kelly blamed identity politics for preventing police from seeing the white teen as the victim. She also presented devastating Fox News polling showing Trump at 39% approval with massive underwater numbers on inflation, economy, and foreign policy, suggesting serious midterm challenges ahead. The show featured Trump's comments about potentially skipping Don Jr.'s wedding due to Iran, and criticized Christopher Nolan's casting of Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Achilles in his upcoming Odyssey adaptation.

Key takeaways

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