Inside Anderson Cooper And Don Lemon's Rocky Former Working Relationship
As the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or, in CNN's Anderson Cooper's case, when life gives you Don Lemon, stay as far away as possible while your colleague's reputation continues to sour. Just one month before CNN announced its severance from Lemon in April 2023, an inside source close to Cooper told Radar Online that the "Anderson Cooper 360" anchor is keeping a wide berth between him and his ex-coworker.
According to a startling exposé by Variety, Lemon has had a long history of making controversial comments, having emotional outbursts on set, and engaging in unsettling behavior like sending anonymous, threatening texts to his coworkers. The former CNN anchor's relationship with Cooper seems to be no better, with tensions tracing all the way back to 2009.
What started as a disagreement over air time quickly snowballed into a years-long pattern of misconduct and ego wars. In the end, it would be Cooper who came out on top.
Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper's drama started with an alleged screen time snafu
While Don Lemon seemed to have problems with virtually all of his coworkers, his beef with Anderson Cooper began after the correspondents reported on a 2009 Michael Jackson memorial event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Per Variety, Lemon was assigned to report from inside the stadium while Cooper and fellow CNN reporter Soledad O'Brien remained outside. By the end of the broadcast, Lemon was upset over what he believed to be CNN prioritizing Cooper's on-air screen time over his.
"That led to a come-to-Jesus moment," a senior executive of the time told Variety. "Don was told, 'Look, you've got to address your behavior. Your performance as a reporter is great. It's your behavior that's gotta improve. It's what's going to derail you if you're not careful."
If the animosity between Lemon and Cooper was mutual, Cooper, for his part, did a better job of hiding it. Cooper rarely publicly commented on Lemon's behavior. However, he did address CNN's many personnel changes — including former CNN president Chris Licht and Don Lemon's ousting — in a September 2023 interview with People. The anchor succinctly told the magazine, "Morale was hurt by all the drama, and that's unfortunate, but I think things feel like they are back on track."
Anderson Cooper didn't want anything to do with Don Lemon's disastrous fall from grace
As outlined in Variety's exposé on Don Lemon's behavior, many of the most public of the ex-anchor's transgressions were directed toward female and minority colleagues. Still, that doesn't mean Anderson Cooper was an exception to the rule. In March 2023, an anonymous source close to the situation told Radar Online that Cooper was trying to steer clear of his explosive, controversial colleague.
"Anderson wants nothing to do with Don anymore," the source said. "People inside CNN run when they see Don coming down the hallway. No one wants to end up on the wrong side when Don messes up again — and he will! He's a ticking time bomb."
The source's claims weren't unfounded, as Lemon was let go from the network one month later. Not one to mince words, Lemon responded to his April 2023 termination by tweeting he was shocked by the news, of which he claimed he had no knowledge prior to the network's announcement. CNN quickly denied this, tweeting back, "Don Lemon's statement about this morning's events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter."