CNN Will Use Don Lemon Substitute on Monday Amid ‘CNN This Morning’ Controversy

Don Lemon will probably be absent from “CNN This Morning” for a second consecutive broadcast as CNN continues to grapple with backlash to feedback he made final week concerning the talents of ladies over 40 — an important demographic for any morning-news program.

Three folks acquainted with the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed community say CNN staffers received phrase round 3 p.m. on Sunday that Lemon, who had been anticipated to return to his morning duties after taking a previously-scheduled day without work on Friday, wouldn’t be on air Monday. Sara Sidner, an anchor who has been getting extra display screen time over the previous 12 months, is anticipated to fill in for him, sitting alongside co-anchor Poppy Harlow whereas the third member of CNN’s morning present workforce, Kaitlan Collins, will report from Poland. Some CNN staffers have begun to surprise, in keeping with these folks, whether or not the community could also be contemplating a shake-up of the “CNN This Morning” workforce.

Lemon gave rise to an issue Thursday by telling Harlow following a report on Nikki Haley’s candidacy for the 2024 U.S. presidential election that “A girl is taken into account to be of their prime in 20s and 30s and perhaps 40s.” Harlow requested Lemon to make clear what he meant, and he replied: “For those who Google ‘when is a lady in her prime,’ it’ll say 20s, 30s and 40s.”

The anchor apologized Thursday afternoon through social media, after which once more to his colleagues on a Friday name. However one of many folks acquainted with the community says Lemon’s efforts have but to assuage some portion of CNN’s worker base.

One of many folks acquainted with the community says Lemon requested Monday off. CNN declined to make executives out there for remark. The Day by day Beast beforehand reported on Lemon’s absence from this system on Monday.

“CNN This Morning” was presupposed to be one among a handful of key programing initiatives from Chris Licht, the CNN CEO who took the job after constructing a formidable monitor document elsewhere within the TV enterprise. Licht was one of many creators of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” one among that community’s most sturdy programming franchises, and retooled “CBS This Morning” for CBS earlier than shifting to work as showrunner for “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert. In doing so, Licht helped that program usurp NBC’s “Tonight Present” because the nation’s most-watched late-night program.

Licht has labored to recalibrate CNN after an period during which the community was within the information nearly as typically as its anchors reported on it. The chief has expressed a want to maneuver away from the period of his predecessor, Jeff Zucker, who inspired anchors and correspondents to not solely problem newsmakers however to with growing frequency categorical ardour or opinion when doing so. A few of Licht’s different efforts –a retooled daytime format and a 9 p.m. program referred to as “CNN Primetime” — are anticipated to debut in weeks to come back.

However the morning program has confirmed nettlesome, with the trio of anchors failing to gel, and considerations rising that Lemon, who held forth solo in primetime for years, was clashing together with his co-anchors, whether or not he meant to or not. On Friday, Lemon instructed colleagues that he owned the error, had lengthy stood in opposition to racism and sexism, and felt many ladies at CNN had contributed to his success there.

CNN took an enormous danger by shifting Lemon from his longtime primetime perch to mornings. The shift has left CNN with two hours to fill and it’s not clear at current that “CNN Tonight,” a dialogue program led by Alisyn Camerota or Laura Coates that has changed Lemon’s nighttime program, has gained traction.