Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk for fraud over money he believes he is owed from his now-defunct talk show on X that was scrapped after just one heated sit-down with the tech billionaire himself.
The former CNN anchor, 58, claimed in the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of California Thursday and obtained by Pvnew that he had been guaranteed $1.5 million for a one-year deal.
Lemon allegedly would be paid $200,000 up-front with the incentives to renew the deal twice with the same terms and receive 60 percent of gross ad revenue, per the complaint.
The journalist claimed the deal also included $500,000 in advertising credits on X and thousands in “performance” payouts depending on how many followers he acquired.
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In January, Lemon announced he would have his own show on the social media platform after a being fired from CNN following a series of scandals at the news network.
Two months later, Musk sat down with the reporter to be his first guest, but the interview quickly took a turn when Lemon began to press the X owner over hot topics such as advertisers boycotting the platform because of a lack of censorship that promoted their content alongside hate speech.
“Choose your question carefully, there’s five minutes left,” Musk warned the TV host at one point.
Before the interview even aired, the Tesla CEO pulled the plug on the show, writing via X at the time, “We reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
He called “The Don Lemon Show” on X “CNN, but on social media” and added, “Instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just [former CNN president] Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity.”
Lemon claimed in his suit Thursday that Musk never paid him following his exit despite the SpaceX founder allegedly using the journalist’s name and brand to “woo advertisers” to his platform.
The complaint further alleged that Musk “provided false and inconsistent reasons for refusing to pay Lemon that completely contradicts what Musk told Lemon’s agent.”
However, the ordeal becomes even more complicated because Lemon never actually signed any paperwork after Musk claimed there was “no need.”
Lemon’s lawyer Carney Shegerian said in a statement to the New York Times, “X executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud.”
The complaint further argued that Musk and his co-defendants’s “failure to follow through on their promises and representations demonstrates a reckless disregard of Lemon’s rights and the promises and representations made to him.”
Lemon’s attorneys concluded that their client and his reputation “were damaged” by the defendants’s “false promises and representations, economically and non-economically.”
In addition to fraud, Lemon is seeking damages for breach of contract, misappropriation of name and likeness, unjust enrichment and other claims.
Musk’s attorney declined Pvnew’s request for comment.
