CNN’s top anchor Don Lemon has been fired from his previous place on the network’s primetime line-up and has been moved to a new time slot – the morning, Media Take Out has confirmed.
The surprising development was announced on Thursday, Media Take Out has learned, and it comes as CNN’s new chairman and CEO Chris Licht continues to shakeup his on-air talent in a bid to rescue the network’s recent poor ratings.
According to Chris Licht’s statement today, where announced the upcoming new morning show with Don Lemon as its lead, the CNN boss also revealed that anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins will join Lemon when the new program debuts later this year.
“There is no stronger combination of talent than Don, Poppy and Kaitlan to deliver on our promise of a game-changing morning news program,” Licht said in his statement. “They are each uniquely intelligent, reliable and compelling; together they have a rare and palpable chemistry.”
He added, “Combined with CNN’s resources and global newsgathering capabilities, we will offer a smart, bold and refreshing way to start the day.”
But whatever the spin, it’s a CLEAR demotion. Don Lemon had become the face of the news network’s primetime slot – its most popular time slot among viewers.
So far Don Lemon has not commented on the demotion.
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