‘Troll and a racist’: Watch Don Lemon spank former CNN pals as well as Megyn Kelly

Don Lemon took a swipe at his former CNN colleagues Friday and also called Megyn Kelly a “troll and a racist” while accusing her of building a career on stoking outrage.

SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly repeatedly hammered corporate media for shielding former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, turning her broadsides into viral podcast moments. In an appearance on “Mixed Signals from Semafor Media,” Lemon said Kelly has carved out a profitable niche by routinely picking fights with public figures and driving outrage.

“The conservatives, you know, have gained a foothold very early on in the streaming arena—that’s what it is. Megyn Kelly has made a business out of being a troll and a racist, and good for her, but that’s not something I want to do,” Lemon said.

Lemon admitted he initially brushed off Megyn Kelly’s barbs but said her repeated jabs eventually pushed him to respond after what he described as her “rude” attacks.

“For the longest time, I ignored her because that’s sort of what she wanted. But after a while, it got to me. After the Joy Reid thing, she was just so rude, and she would say things about me. I didn’t respond. People would send them to me, but I wasn’t going to get in the dirt with her,” Lemon said.

Lemon said he has no interest in carrying on the feud but felt it necessary to push back.

“People would send them to me, but I wasn’t going to get in the dirt with her. You lie down with dogs, you get fleas. Finally, I had to call her out for her misogyny, her racism, her trolling. If you search Megyn Kelly, it’s always ‘Megyn Kelly calls out this person’ or ‘Megyn Kelly calls out that person.’ Now she’s doing it, but there’s also a press element,” Lemon said. “I’m sure she has a PR person behind her sending notes saying, ‘Look, Megyn Kelly called out this person today, do you want to write about it?’ At least in the beginning, I’m sure that’s what happened. And that was it. Now I’m done with it, unless she does something else that’s egregious. But I think it was important to call her out.”

Lemon didn’t just go after Kelly. He also fielded questions about his old CNN colleague Chris Cuomo. Cuomo said his on-screen camaraderie with Lemon was staged, claiming Jeff Zucker pushed him to stay on Lemon’s show to control what he might say, however Lemon rejected Cuomo’s version of events.

“Well, you know, Jeff and I are friends, and I see Jeff and talk to him weekly—sometimes a couple times a week, not daily. So I have great affinity for Jeff, and I asked him about that, and he just laughed and said, ‘That’s really sad,’” Lemon said. “If you really think about it, it doesn’t make sense. Why would he have to come on my show when you’re talking about the handoff thing we did?”

Lemon dismissed Cuomo’s claim, saying Cuomo had no influence over his program and that the segments were entirely his own idea.

“If the shows were reversed, that would make sense. But it was for me to say, ‘OK, Chris, thank you. Goodbye.’ I could kick him off whenever I wanted to. He had no control over what I said or what came out of my mouth on my show, because he wasn’t really a part of my show,” Lemon added.

Lemon reiterated that the handoffs were his creation, not something orchestrated by Zucker. Cuomo said they worked because viewers tuned in for the unscripted banter before he moved on to the news.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].