Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, is suing Elon Musk and his social media network X, alleging fraud and breach of contract after the billionaire abruptly scrapped a content partnership between them in March.
The lawsuit, posted by Variety, which earlier reported on the legal claim, claims that Musk and X promised that Lemon would have “full authority and control over the work he produced even if disliked” by the Tesla CEO and his executives. Lemon also alleges he never received any pay for his content deal, which the lawsuit states amounted to a “guaranteed” $1.5 million in the first year.
Lemon’s attorney, Carney R. Shegerian, said in a statement emailed to CBS MoneyWatch that the case “is straightforward.”
“X’s executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud,” he said. “You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here. Don’s a hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name. We look forward to our day in court.”
Lemon’s suit comes less than five months after the much-touted content deal fell apart even before it officially started. X announced the arrangement was ending just days before its maiden broadcast was set to air on X in March, while Musk derided Lemon’s approach at the time as “basically just ‘CNN, but on social media.'”
The first episode, which Lemon released on social media after the content deal was canceled, showed a sometimes prickly conversation with Musk in which the billionaire defended his prescription usage of ketamine, saying the drug helped him alleviate a “negative chemical mind state.” Musk also complained in the interview about the way Lemon was asking questions, describing it as “not cogent.
The lawsuit alleges that Musk and his representatives, including X CEO Linda Yaccarino, “deliberately misrepresented what they intended to do,” which it claims was to capitalize on Lemon’s name and professional status to rehabilitate X’s reputation after major advertisers fled the service following Musk’s endorsement of an antisemitic post.
Lemon alleges he incurred “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to create his own media company to produce the X content.
Editor’s note: The initial version of the story mistakenly reported that Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk for $35 million. The damages haven’t been specified.