The Scoop
Elon Musk and Don Lemon are escalating towards what could be a bitter contract dispute after X’s owner abruptly terminated its agreement to broadcast a show hosted by Lemon — but Lemon does not have a signed contract.
This week, the former CNN anchor sat down with Musk at SpaceX’s office in Austin, Texas for what should have been his first interview as a host on the social media platform, which recruited him to help build out its exclusive video offerings.
But the billionaire businessman was displeased with the exchange. Lemon reportedly asked Musk questions about the 2024 presidential elections, and Musk’s reported drug use. Following the interview, Musk promptly texted power agent Jay Sures, who represents Lemon, with the words “contract is canceled.”
The abrupt termination of the deal could plunge the two sides into a legal battle over whether X is still obligated to pay Lemon for his brief stint at the company.
Two people familiar with the terms of the deal told Semafor that Lemon had not technically inked a contract with X, arguing that the social media company does not need to pay the former cable news host. Worse, one person familiar with the deal told Semafor, Lemon had not signed the contract for weeks.
Know More
People close to Lemon have dismissed some of these concerns. One person familiar with the agreement pushed back on the argument that X doesn’t owe Lemon money, saying that X’s legal department took weeks to get a contract to the host’s team. Further, according to one person familiar with the deal, X had begun selling ads on the show, and its CEO Linda Yaccarino had promoted the deal at the CES conference in January.
Lemon’s spokesperson Allison Gollust declined to comment on the specifics of the deal, but told Semafor that the former CNN host has a deal with X and “expects to be paid for it.”
“If we have to go to court, we will,” she said.
A spokesperson for X read several messages sent by Semafor, but did not respond to requests for comment. In a series of posts, Musk said that Lemon’s show was “basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.” In a post, the company said that it had “X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
Lemon plans to publish the interview on March 18 on YouTube, and told the New York Times on Wednesday that he will continue to share content on X.
“My questions were respectful and wide ranging, covering everything from SpaceX to the presidential election,” Lemon said in a statement. “We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. 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.”
