X CEO reportedly canceled deal with former CNN host in March
after a day Don Lemon sued Elon Musk and X over a canceled talk show deal, and the X chief offered a brief explanation. “He made a series of impressively insane demands, we refused. Therefore, no deal,” Musk claimed in a post.
Musk did not elaborate on the “crazy demands” or address any of Lemon’s claims in the lawsuit. Representatives for X and Lemon did not immediately respond to the lawsuit. rolling stones Comment requests.
On Thursday, Lemon sued Musk and the social media platform, alleging fraud, intentional misrepresentation, misuse of name and likeness, and breach of contract. Lemon, who left CNN last year, had appeared on just one episode of the Channel X talk show, where he interviewed Musk, when Musk reportedly canceled the entire deal in March. Lemon reportedly asked Musk about his alleged use of ketamine and his views on this year’s election. Musk then allegedly texted Lemon’s agent the words “contract canceled.”
Lemon alleged in the lawsuit that Musk and X would pay him $1.5 million for an exclusive one-year deal. They would pay him $200,000 up front and the rest quarterly and bonuses based on ad revenue and other benefits. The lawsuit alleges there was a verbal agreement but no formal contract was entered into as Musk said there was no need to “fill out paperwork.”
In March, Musk offered another naive explanation for why he was so keen on taking out Don Lemon Show“His approach has basically been just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk wrote. In a postIn the same message, he also claimed that former CNN president Jeff Zucker was “speaking through Don.”