Tension rose on the set of CNN This Morning on Thursday, Dec. 8, after Don Lemon allegedly screamed at co-host Kaitlan Collins after the show’s broadcast.
Sources told The New York Post that the incident happened in front of the cast and crew and behind the cameras. Lemon, 56, approached 30-year-old Collins and reportedly yelled at her about “interrupting” him on air.
“Don screamed at Kaitlan, who was visibly upset and ran out of the studio,” one unnamed source said.
CNN CEO Chris Licht caught wind of the heated moment and disagreed with Lemon’s demeanor. Licht instructed a producer to inform Lemon that he wasn’t to come in the next day and to take that time to “cool off.”
Collins, according to an anonymous source, wants minimal interaction with Don while on set.
There’s no audio or video of Lemon yelling at Collins, so it’s unclear why Collins ran off upset.
However, if CNN executives watched a few segments from CNN This Morning, they’d see that Lemon’s frustration is justifiable.
For example, amid a breaking news segment about WNBA player Brittney Griner being released from Russia’s clutches, Lemon was informing viewers that President Joe Biden was gearing up to speak on the matter when Collins interjected with, “it has been 10 months since she’s been held in captivity.”
Knowing Lemon was reading from a teleprompter, she still unapologetically bulldozed over the veteran news personality without waiting for her turn to speak. Despite Collins’ disrespectful and unprofessional behavior, Lemon responded professionally by continuing with the report.
Another example is when Lemon, Collins and co-host Poppy Harlow discussed whether or not the US women’s soccer team players should earn more than the men’s. Harlow and Collins continuously disrupted Lemon from making his point while he respectfully waited for them to get their point across.
While Collins is entitled to her feelings and expressing herself by storming off, so is Lemon. He expressed to a colleague his disapproval of being interrupted on air. And instead of apologizing, Collins stormed off and requested minimal time on air with Lemon—and she got her wish. Sources also said that Lemon was placed on a script to allow other people to talk, yet Collins and Harlow are the main ones who interrupt, and footage shows.
Collins’ microaggressions led to Lemon receiving disciplinary actions—taking the day to “cool off” and being placed on a script. However, when President Biden publicly criticized her, which went viral? She said that his apology wasn’t necessary, and she appreciated it.
Joe Biden just absolutely snapped at @CNN’s Kaitlan Collins
Putin got the better of him and he knows it.
Also—looking forward to continuous media outrage over Biden’s “misogynistic attack on the free press.”
That’s how this works, right?
🤔
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 16, 2021
Kaitlan Collins says Biden apologizing for the way he handled her question is “completely unnecessary” pic.twitter.com/StQ8LZLz3z
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2021
She saw nothing wrong with the white man criticizing her, yet she didn’t want to work alongside the gay, Black man who told her not to interrupt.
