In the Thursday, March 28 episode of her Sirius XM radio show and podcast, Megyn Kelly tore into former CNN host Don Lemon over the list of demands he reportedly gave Elon Musk for doing a show on Elon’s X platform, saying that the demands were the height of hubris and so absurd as to make Lemon look “like an a**hole.”
Kelly’s comments come after Lemon and Musk had a high-profile blow-up on the first episode of Lemon’s show on X. Musk, and many of his supporters, thought Lemon was attempting a “gotcha” interview attack on Musk, something that infuriated Musk and led to his cancellation of Lemon’s deal with X. Before the disastrous interview, Lemon was supposed to be doing a show like Tucker’s X show to drive people to the platform.
Among the list of demands Lemon had for doing the show were, reportedly, a Tesla Cybertruck, a free trip to space on a SpaceX rocket, and authority to approve or reject future talent deals for similar news and entertainment shows on X. Kelly laughed at those absurd demands, laughing that they represented extreme hubris on Lemon’s part.
Using her personal experience from broadcast news to comment on Lemon’s demands and explain why his supposed list of asks was utterly unreasonable and the opposite of what those in his position should do when negotiating, Kelly said, “As somebody who actually has negotiated several contracts in cable news and broadcast news — no! That’s exactly the opposite of what you do.”
Kelly continued, explaining what sorts of demands should be used to leave room for negotiation without looking like an unreasonable jerk. She said, “You make a demand that is reasonable, that is a big … because you want to leave yourself some room for negotiation. But you don’t want to make yourself look like an asshole, right? … You don’t want to make yourself look like an asshole.”
Adding to that, she returned to how outlandish Lemon’s demands were, particularly given the limited value his show represents, saying, “Nobody in history has asked to be the first person in space, and for full editorial control over any news decisions made. Like, that’s something… Maybe Rachel Maddow has that at MSNBC because she appears to be running the joint. Don Lemon at Twitter? When this guy’s resurrecting him from the dead? The hubris!”
Watch her here:
This isn’t the first time Kelly has commented on the Elon-Lemon situation. Shortly after the disastrous interview, she said, “It’s very hard for Don Lemon in his position to both be a good journalist and be a good employee. You know, the man’s paying your salary, so you do owe him a level of respect and discretion, and at the same time you want to prove to us in your first interview back how hard-hitting you are, and those two goals are not aligned. So I don’t blame Elon for being mad at the way he was treated, which now Don is admitting it didn’t end well and Elon was pissed off when it ended.”
Continuing, she emphasized that Lemon chose poorly in what he did, saying, “The man that just resurrected your career! Show some gratitude! Ask him about how amazing X is doing and how it’s thriving notwithstanding all the doomsday predictions and whatever happened to loser Threads over on Facebook. Elon’s having a moment, but not in Don’s life and in his world, even though he just got this great opportunity.”
Watch her here:
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