Don Lemon gets in a tiff with his other ‘CNN This Morning’ co-anchor
By MixDex Article may include affiliate links
Don Lemon has reportedly been involved in another on-set incident during “CNN This Morning.”
This is the second report of Lemon running afoul with a co-anchor in recent weeks. Previously he allegedly sparred with Kaitlan Collins.
This time it’s Poppy Harlow who took offense to Lemon.
The incident came after Lemon made comments about presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s age and gender on air, an incident that has garnered attention by itself. He later apologized.
After the segment ended, Harlow reportedly took a strategically-timed trip to the restroom with Collins not far behind.
In addition to low ratings, “CNN This Morning” has reportedly been suffering from internal turmoil between its three co-anchors.
Many point out that Lemon moved from a solo primtime show, meaning he was able to steer conversations and scripts the way he wanted. Now, however, he has to share air-time with two other anchors.
The morning show replaced another low-rated effort, “New Day,” which had completely different anchors. In many ways, industry watchers were looking to see how it performed as one of the first major programming changes by CEO Chris Licht.
CNN is also preparing to debut two multi-hour blocks of live news in the morning and afternoon, also to feature multiple anchors. It will reportedly originate from within a news gathering environment, but not details or a debut date have been set.
Officially CNN appears to be standing firm on its “This Morning” offering, but if all the conflict turns out to be true, there could be a talent shake-up coming for the show.
The show is currently broadcasting from a temporary studio and CNN says a permanent home is under construction in New York.
It’s possible, though no sources have indicated this is being considered, that “This Morning” could get revamped significantly once the show moves to that space — perhaps including some anchor replacements or a completely clean slate of talent.
This possibility could be even more likely given that the show hasn’t been making significant growth and the off-camera battles between hosts could lead to lack of on-air chemistry, which is often a key factor in how well viewers perceive a show.
Meanwhile, Lemon was not only “This Morning” Friday, Feb. 17, with Audie Cornish sitting in, though he had mentioned he was taking Friday off on Thursday’s broadcast, so it does not appear to be directly connected to the on-air incident.
After the last spat, Lemon took some time off to “cool down” at the request of CNN bosses, sources said.
The show has also been sending both Lemon and Collins to the scene of news, noting that Collins was always meant to be the show’s chief correspondent, a role that would presumably involved significant travel.
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