The Don Lemon scandal is not a scandal

I’m not excusing what he said. I’m just not that surprised that he said it

Don Lemon (Getty Images)

On 16 February, Don Lemon made some cavalier comments about Nikki Haley. On CNN This Morning, Lemon said of the former South Carolina governor and current Republican presidential candidate that she wasn’t “in her prime.” He, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins were discussing Haley’s recent suggestion, made at her campaign launch, that politicians over 75 years old should undergo mandatory mental competency tests.

“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable,” Lemon said on CNN This Morning. “I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in their twenties and thirties and maybe forties.”

When his co-hosts challenged him, Lemon didn’t have a great answer, instead encouraging viewers to Google the matter. Chris Licht, who became CNN’s chairman a year ago, was reportedly less than pleased about the segment. According to The New York Times, Licht called Lemon’s comments “upsetting, unacceptable and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization” during an editorial call the next morning. Lemon apologized, telling the CNN newsroom, according to The New York Times, that he didn’t mean to hurt or offend anyone.

On Twitter, Lemon expressed regrets over the remarks on the same day he’d made them. “The reference I made to a woman’s ‘prime’ this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it,” he tweeted on 16 February. “A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.” Another message followed on 22 February, when he returned to the air: “I appreciate the opportunity to be back on @CNNThisMorning today,” he wrote. “To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience – I’m sorry. I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better. See you soon.”

According to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, Licht said he and Lemon “had a frank and meaningful conversation”, and that Lemon “has agreed to participate in formal training.”

In other words: a TV anchor said something rude and, yes, sexist. He apologized. His network took action. This is a mildly interesting story — and yes, only mildly interesting. Lemon is, as The New York Times rightly put it, “a CNN veteran with a history of televised gaffes.” Much of his professional life is spent talking on camera about a variety of topics. Speak publicly as much and as often as Lemon does, and the statistical likelihood that you will say something unfortunate increases. I’m not excusing what he said. I’m just not that surprised that he said it.

Look up the top tweets about Lemon’s comments and you’ll see they mainly came from Fox News and conservative figures. The outrage on the right seemed… surprising, shall we say, from the side that has so often propped up Donald “Grab Them By the P***y” Trump.

Then again, Lemon’s comments happened around the same time Fox News found itself at the centre of a string of embarrassing revelations stemming from Dominion’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against the network. Is it terribly surprising, then, that as soon as someone at CNN – Fox News’s arch rival – made a regrettable comment, Fox News drummed up outrage, running multiple segments and questioning Lemon’s future at CNN? No! It isn’t! It’s the very definition of predictable.

Outrage is a powerful force – one that can easily make us manipulable. I try to be economical about where I put mine. There is a difference between a scandal and a bit of network TV news. Lemon’s comments are the latter, not the former.