Former Reporter Don Lemon Sues Elon Musk After He Cancels A Planned Deal; Know More About The Lawsuit

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and X, claiming the billionaire had not paid him following the collapse of a deal.

By Marita Pinto

Published on Aug 03, 2024 | 06:06 PM IST | 64.1K

Image Courtesy: Getty Images

Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Thursday, claiming the billionaire businessman refused to pay him following the cancellation of their deal with the social network site X. The former anchor makes claims of unjust enrichment, fraud, careless misrepresentation, theft of his name and likeness, and breach of express contract.

In the lawsuit, which was submitted to a San Francisco court, Lemon claimed that Musk and X duped him into investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce the web show through false promises and representations, only to pull the plug. Lemon was just days away from launching his The Don Lemon Show.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco. It claims that within a day of the interview, during which Musk was questioned about, among other things, his open use of ketamine and hate speech on social media, Musk texted Lemon's agent to inform him that the contract [with Defendants] is canceled.

In January, Mr. Lemon agreed to bring his new show to X, the network owned by Mr. Musk, as part of the platform's effort to produce high-quality content to draw advertisers. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco, Mr. Musk agreed to pay Mr. Lemon $1.5 million yearly to produce videos exclusively on X, to give him a share of the advertising revenue from his videos, and to award Mr. Lemon additional cash incentives as his account gained followers.

The lawsuit claimed that after being fired by CNN last year, Mr. Lemon thought that this would be a platform for his new show, but he failed to execute a contract formalizing the arrangement.

According to the court document, Mr. Musk promised Mr. Lemon over the phone that X would continue to financially support the show even if he disagreed with the opinions Mr. Lemon expressed and that there was no need to fill out paperwork.

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