Lemon suit against Musk may continue, says judge

At one point, former CNN host Don Lemon and Elon Musk were about to embark on a media partnership.

Lemon was slated to sign a deal with Musk, then the interview happened.

After the testy interview took place, Musk reportedly pulled back the deal, which resulted in Lemon filing suit, which a judge says can now proceed.

The Interview

One of the more contentious parts of the interview was Musk arguing against DEI, stating, "If the standards for passing medical exams and becoming a doctor, especially for something like a surgeon, if the standards are lowered, then the probability the surgeon will make a mistake is higher… and that may result in people dying.”

Lemon shot back, "There's no evidence of that, Elon," but Musk was more than happy to inform him, "They have literally lowered the standards at Duke University.”

The interview went viral for that confrontation as well as several other instances during the interview.

When Musk canceled the partnership afterward, Lemon, of course, claimed it was because Musk did not like his line of questioning.

Canceled

Lemon announced that the deal had been canceled by Musk, stating, "Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform. He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday."

Musk then claimed that once he looked at Lemon’s model, the show just did not make sense for X.

He stated, “His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.

“And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity.”

Judge Says Go

Musk was sued by Lemon over the cancellation, and he has just been given the green light to move ahead with the case by Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn.

Lemon’s counsel stated, “The ruling means Don can hold X and Musk accountable in open court. Musk is subject to the legal process, just like everyone else, and that’s important. There’s no question about Musk’s motives and liability, as documented in his own texts and on X for millions to see.”

This is over $1.5 million in salary and a 60% cut of ad revenue generated from his show, so this is peanuts to Musk, who could make all this go away in a flash with a check, but something tells me that he will dig in.

Lemon was also looking to hit Musk for defamation, but the judge dismissed that claim, so he will now have to stand on the strength of the contract. It should be a fun court battle to watch.