Is Don Lemon in His Prime?

The lowest moment of Don Lemon’s reckoning came last year, when the contents of his office arrived at his house in Sag Harbor, N.Y. There it was: The sum total of 17 years at CNN, reduced to a pile of boxes stuffed with neckties, books, awards and pictures.

“You’d think it would be sort of nostalgic,” Lemon said during an interview at his dining room table. “But it was just, what am I going to do with all of this? And: It’s over. ”

Lemon has interviewed actors, Olympians and politicians. He’s reported from scenes of carnage and triumph. He’s been hounded by the paparazzi, heckled by former President Donald J. Trump and kicked to the curb by Elon Musk. He has wondered aloud whether it makes more sense to travel to an evening event by car or helicopter.

Much of Lemon’s life would be unimaginable to the average working person, but even those of us who pack the contents of our own desks are sympathetic to the discombobulation of losing a job. It can be sad. And lonely. And humbling, especially in midlife and under duress.

For Lemon, 58, it was all of the above, plus the glare of public scorn. In 2023 he was fired from CNN two months after speculating — live, on air — about whether Nikki Haley, a Republican presidential candidate (and former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina), was “in her prime” at the age of 51.

The blowback was swift. Lemon was accused of sexism and ageism. Variety published an article titled, “Don Lemon’s Misogyny at CNN, Exposed.” Seemingly overnight, yet another stoker of the 24-hour news cycle had become its kindling.