CNN announcer Don Lemon announced on Monday that the American network had fired him, and this news came in the wake of the announcement of the departure of the famous broadcaster and presenter, Tucker Carlson, from the “Fox News” news network.
Lemon wrote on his Twitter account that he was “stunned” after his agent informed him of the news of his dismissal from “CNN”, after 17 years of working in the network, and said that he would have preferred to speak to an official in the administration directly to inform him of this, after such a long period.
He added in the tweet that no signals were issued by the network about its desire to end his services, expecting that there would be “bigger problems” behind this decision.
A Fox News spokesperson had also announced Tucker Carlson’s departure from the channel, after “the parties agreed” to that, and thanked him for his services.
And it announced temporary programs bearing the name “Fox News Tonight” until a permanent replacement for Carlson, who was presenting a program under his name, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” is announced, knowing that the new program will feature rotating announcers.
The last show of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” was broadcast on Friday, April 21.
Carlson’s departure from the channel came less than a week after Fox Corp., the parent company of “Fox News,” settled a defamation lawsuit brought by voting systems company Dominion accusing the company of promoting allegations by former President Donald Trump that its machines were used to falsify results. The presidential election, in 2020, in which he lost to Joe Biden.
Fox News refuted the defamation accusation by emphasizing that they only reported Trump’s accusations without endorsing them. They claimed that it falls under their freedom of expression, which is safeguarded by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Attorneys for Dominion released internal discussions on Fox News, in which certain commentators, such as Carlson, expressed a negative sentiment towards Trump even though they had complimented him on air. Carlson stated his dislike for the previous president after his election loss, saying “I hate him so much.”
Fox News, in turn, accused Dominion of “picking and taking statements out of context”.
Prior to joining Fox News, Carlson co-hosted “Fox & Friends Weekend” from 2012 to 2016, and previously worked for MSNBC and CNN.
