Don Lemon announced Wednesday that Elon Musk canceled his new talk show on X (formerly Twitter). Lemon, a former CNN host, says Musk canceled the show hours after interviewing the billionaire for the show’s first episode.
“Elon Musk canceled the partnership he had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplify more diverse voices on their platform,” Lemon wrote in a statement. “He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday.”
Despite the canceled show deal with X, The Don Lemon Show will live on. The interview with Musk will remain the premiere episode of the show and is scheduled to air March 18 on YouTube, podcast channels and X. Lemon, who was fired from CNN last year after 13 years at the company, says that The episode will be “just the first of many.”
In a statement published on x’s business account, the company said that while Lemon’s show is “welcome to post” on X, the social network has decided not to establish a commercial partnership with him.
“The Don Lemon Show can publish its content on X, without censorship, as we believe in providing a platform for creators to scale their work and connect with new communities,” the statement read. “However, like any company, we reserve the right to make decisions about our commercial partnerships and, after careful consideration, X decided not to establish a commercial partnership with the program.”
Musk said in his own publication that the show’s “focus was basically ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.”
Lemon says Musk willingly agreed to the interview and that his questions were “respectful” and covered topics such as SpaceX and the presidential election. She notes that the pair had a “good conversation,” but that Musk clearly felt otherwise.
Lemon’s show was one of the first original shows scheduled to launch on X, as Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino have been looking to turn the social media site into a “video first” platform. Episodes of the show were expected to air three times a week exclusively on the platform first. In January, X announced two more original shows alongside Lemon’s: one hosted by former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and another by former Fox Sports host Jim Rome.