The “Don Lemon Show” was planned exclusively for the short message service X. Guest on the first show: X owner Musk himself. But the CEO probably didn't like some questions: he terminated the partnership before the premiere.
The operators of Platform X, formerly Twitter, want to appeal to new users and – above all – new advertising customers with talk shows about politics, culture and sport. But X is now dropping the cooperation with the first planned show – after boss Elon Musk himself was a guest in the first episode.
Even before the premiere of the “Don Lemon Show,” the operators of X announced that they would “not enter into a commercial partnership with the show.” Former CNN presenter Don Lemon was invited to publish the show's content on X “without censorship” – but without being paid for it.
Musk apparently “angry” about the questions asked
The operators of the short message service left it open as to why the talk show was canceled before it was first broadcast. Don Lemon himself didn't give a specific reason why his show shouldn't run on X after all.
In a video that Lemon published on Musk was “angry” – at him and about the conversation they had, Lemon said in the post. The moderator did not say which question exactly could have caused Musk such displeasure that it would mean the early end of the talk show.
But Lemon emphasized several times that he believes in the right to free speech. From his point of view, the interview would have provided an opportunity for users to “see and hear” an “exchange” between him and “learn from it”. After all: Musk agreed to the interview, emphasized Lemon. And the X owner described himself as an “absolutist for free expression.” “But apparently free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me,” criticized Lemon.
Dealing with hate speech as a hot topic
According to the AP news agency, the first excerpts from the Musk interview were broadcast in a conversation between Lemon and CNN presenter Erin Burnett that was broadcast on CNN. Accordingly, the X owner reacted irritably to questions about the spread of hate speech and hate speech at X. Lemon also asked whether it was the responsibility of the operators of X to limit the spread of such content. Musk responded by saying he didn't have to answer questions from journalists, adding: “The only reason I'm doing this interview is because you're on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing this interview. “
After the cooperation with Lemon announced in January, three 30-minute episodes of his show were to be shown exclusively on X every week, initially for 24 hours. Afterwards, Lemon was able to publish them elsewhere on the Internet. Now he will present the “Don Lemon Show” on YouTube and as a podcast – as well as on X. The interview with Musk will be shown as the first episode next Monday.
