After Testy Interview With Elon Musk, Don Lemon Says His Deal With X Is Canceled

 After Testy Interview With Elon Musk, Don Lemon Says His Deal With X Is Canceled


Within the wake of a testy interview with Elon Musk, the previous tv anchor Don Lemon’s deal for a brand new speak present on X combusted simply days earlier than it was scheduled to air.

Mr. Musk referred to as off Mr. Lemon’s partnership with X, the social media platform previously often known as Twitter, the day after filming an hour-and-a-half lengthy interview with the previous information anchor at SpaceX’s workplace in Austin, Texas. The dialog was sometimes tense, Mr. Lemon mentioned, as he requested probing questions concerning the upcoming U.S. presidential elections and Mr. Musk’s numerous enterprise ventures.

Mr. Lemon mentioned he would launch the interview on March 18. “My questions had been respectful and extensive ranging, overlaying every part from SpaceX to the presidential election,” Mr. Lemon mentioned in a assertion. “We had dialog. Clearly he felt in another way. His dedication to a worldwide city sq. the place all questions will be requested and all concepts will be shared appears to not embrace questions of him from individuals like me.”

Salespeople at X had been blindsided by the information of the abrupt cancellation, as that they had been working as just lately as Monday to trace the sale of adverts for the present, in accordance with an inner doc seen by The New York Instances.

The cancellation of a present that Mr. Musk pledged would have his “full assist” is the newest self-inflicted enterprise disruption at X in latest months. In November, Mr. Musk informed advertisers to not spend on his platform, utilizing an expletive to dismiss them, and accused them of attempting to “blackmail” him after he appeared to endorse an anti-Semitic conspiracy concept on X. His feedback kicked off an costly exodus.

Mr. Lemon was one in every of a number of headline-grabbing figures, together with the previous Fox Information host Tucker Carlson and the previous Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who’ve signed contracts this 12 months to provide long-form video content material on X, as a part of an effort by the platform to carry on content material creators to generate premium content material that manufacturers would need to promote in opposition to.

X had agreed to throw its monetary assist behind the creation of Mr. Lemon’s new enterprise, referred to as “The Don Lemon Present.” However the firm mentioned in a press release it could not pay Mr. Lemon to create content material for the location.

“The Don Lemon Present is welcome to publish its content material on X, with out censorship, as we consider in offering a platform for creators to scale their work and join with new communities,” the corporate mentioned in a assertion posted on X. “Nonetheless, like all enterprise, we reserve the suitable to make choices about our enterprise partnerships, and after cautious consideration, X determined to not enter right into a business partnership with the present.”

In a press release, a spokeswoman for Mr. Lemon mentioned that he would proceed to hunt fee from X. “Don has a take care of X and expects to be paid for it,” she mentioned. “If we’ve got to go to courtroom, we’ll.”

X’s latest video offers — together with the one with Mr. Lemon — had been spearheaded by X’s chief govt, Linda Yaccarino, a former NBC Common govt who has leaned on her tv expertise to develop X’s content material portfolio. The tumult highlighted the challenges going through Ms. Yaccarino as she tries to woo advertisers and content material creators to the platform underneath the shadow of Mr. Musk’s impulsive management.

Ryan Mac contributed reporting.





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