Overview

Elon Musk's Don Lemon Interview or Elon Musk vs. Don Lemon refers to a viral interview and ensuing controversy between entrepreneur and X / Twitter owner Elon Musk and broadcast journalist Don Lemon. Upon invitation from Musk, Lemon secured a partnership with X to host his program The Don Lemon Show following his dismissal from CNN in 2023. Prior to the interview's release in mid-March 2024, the deal was unexpectedly canceled. When the interview was then released by Lemon on March 18th, 2024, responses to the content and statements made by Musk were widely debated on social media.

Background

As part of a commitment to free speech,^[9] Elon Musk invited Don Lemon to start his own show on Twitter / X, mentioning the offer of a partnership on several occasions on X throughout 2023. One notable example followed after Lemon's firing from CNN on May 10th, 2023, which earned 4,500 likes and 300 reposts in less than a year (seen below).

Pre-Interview Controversy

Prior to the interview airing in mid-March 2024, Don Lemon delivered the news that his partnership with X had been canceled. On March 13th, 2024, Lemon posted a statement on X^[2] explaining that Musk had canceled his partnership with the platform hours after conducting the interview with him (seen below), which earned 2,400 likes and 800 reposts in less than a week.

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. That interview will remain the premiere episode of The Don Lemon Show on Monday, March 18th.

Elon publicly encouraged me to join X with a new show, saying I would have his "full support," and that his digital town square is for all." He and his team pursued the deal in numerous conversations and made significant commitments about the support X would provide for the show. I made the decision to work with them in a unique partnership that I believed would ultimately assure that my work would be available to the most people, in the largest possible venue. I took Elon and his management team's word that they, for the first time, were interested in working directly with new and diverse voices.

There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging, converting everything from SpaceX to the presidential election. We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.

Our conversation will be available on YouTube, wherever you listen to podcasts and X. This will be just the first of many episodes of The Don Lemon Show. While Elon goes back on his word, I will be doubling down on my commitment to free speech and I cannot wait to get started.

Later on March 13th, Lemon then posted a video on his Instagram,^[3] @donlemonofficial, explaining his previous statement on his show's cancelation. He stated that his partnership with X had been called off after the interview had taken place, prior to its release. Lemon insisted that it would not be a significant setback and that he would still release his content, with the only major change being his damaged relationship with Musk and X. The video (seen below) earned over 60,600 likes in five days.

Interview

On March 8th, 2024, Don Lemon interviewed Elon Musk for the first episode of his show. On March 18th, 2024, Lemon stated on X that the release of the interview was delayed due to unexplained technical issues, including the interview not loading after submitting the post and the interview itself not playing on X. About 40 minutes later, the full interview was successfully shared by Lemon.

Much is addressed in the interview. For instance, Musk admits to taking ketamine for his depression, discusses a chance meeting with Donald Trump and argues about the word “"woke":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/woke.” Lemon posted the video to Twitter / X^[1] using his account @donlemon on March 18th, and the post earned 5,000 likes and 1,800 reposts in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Online Reactions

Many internet users discussed the new information revealed by the interview as it garnered notable attention online in mid-March 2024, with some arguing that Don Lemon was in the wrong for his harsh scrutiny of Elon Musk, particularly conservatives.

For instance, on March 18th, 2024, X^[5] user @EndWokeness posted a clip of Lemon and Musk arguing about inclusivity in the medical field, arguing that Lemon was "unable to grasp" Musk's point. The post received 44,000 likes and 7,700 retweets in under a day (seen below).

Others argued that Musk was lashing out against Lemon for having a dissenting opinion from his own or that Musk was simply making bad points and that The Don Lemon Show was canceled on X because Musk did not like the way the interview made him look.

For instance, on March 19th, X^[6][7] user @marionumber4 posted a meme about Elon Musk supposedly wanting to cry during the interview, which received over 3,400 likes and 450 reposts in about eight hours (seen below, left). That same day, a tweet calling Musk an "utter moron" by user @parismarx received over 3,500 likes and 500 retweets in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).

Some viewers didn’t weigh in on the debate but were entertained by the interview itself and what were perceived as awkward moments during Lemon’s interactions with Musk. For instance, at one point in the interview, Lemon questions Musk about the downfall of Twitter after his acquisition and the nearly three-minute clip began to spread on X.

For example, on March 19th, 2024, the clip was reposted by X^[8] user @esjesjesj, who stated that Lemon “looked Elon right in the face and basically said ‘"gonna cry?":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gonna-cry’” The post gained over 6,400 likes and 1,100 retweets in just nine hours (seen below).

Search Interest

External References