The “Don Lemon Show” was supposed to run on the short message service X. Guest of the first show: X owner Musk himself. But the CEO probably didn’t like some questions – which means the end for the talk show even before it starts.
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 the first of the planned shows was canceled before it even started – even though X owner and US billionaire Elon Musk himself was supposed to be the show’s first star guest.
The interview took place between the former CNN presenter Don Lemon, after whom the talk show on 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.”
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. There should actually be three episodes per week, each three minutes long.
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. “
Despite the canceled talk show, Lemon wants to broadcast the entire interview – on his YouTube channel and as a podcast, just not on Publish X, just not for payment.