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Don Lemon
Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist best known for being a host on CNN from 2014 until 2023. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. Lemon worked as a news correspondent for NBC on its programming, such as Today and NBC Nightly News.
Lemon is a recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2002 for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He also received three regional Emmy Awards for his special report on real estate in Chicago and a business feature on Craigslist.
He joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent and later achieved prominence as the presenter of Don Lemon Tonight from 2014 to 2022. He recently served as a co-host of CNN This Morning, alongside Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. He was fired by CNN in April 2023.
Shortly after leaving CNN, Don Lemon created The Don Lemon Show, which now operates independently and has its own YouTube channel with approximately 1.25 million subscribers as of March 2026.
Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark was born March 1, 1966, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Katherine Marie (Bouligney) and Wilmon Lee Richardson. His father was a prominent attorney whose firm was party to a lawsuit that successfully challenged racial segregation of public transportation in Baton Rouge. Lemon was born under the surname of his mother's then-husband, and discovered that Richardson was his father when he was five.
He is of mostly African-American ancestry, along with Creole; his maternal grandmother was the daughter of a black mother and a white father, who had French and Scots-Irish ancestry. Lemon has stated he was sexually molested as a child by a teenage boy who lived nearby, and that he knew he was gay prior to this incident. He attended Baker High School, a public high school in the town of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish. He was voted class president during his senior year.
Lemon attended Louisiana State University, where he was a Republican and voted for Ronald Reagan. He later graduated from Brooklyn College with a major in broadcast journalism in 1996 at the age of 30. While at Brooklyn College, he interned at WNYW. He worked for Fox affiliates in St. Louis and Chicago for several years, and was a correspondent for NBC affiliates in Philadelphia and Chicago.
Early in his career, Lemon reported as a weekend news anchor for WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama, and for WCAU in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For several years he was an anchor and investigative reporter for Fox affiliate KTVI in St. Louis, Missouri, and Fox's Chicago affiliate. Lemon reported for NBC News' New York City operations, including working as a correspondent for both Today, and NBC Nightly News; and as an anchor on Weekend Today and programs on MSNBC. In 2003, he began working at NBC owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV in Chicago, and was a reporter and local news co-anchor. He won three Emmys for local reporting while at WMAQ.
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Don Lemon
Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist best known for being a host on CNN from 2014 until 2023. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. Lemon worked as a news correspondent for NBC on its programming, such as Today and NBC Nightly News.
Lemon is a recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2002 for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He also received three regional Emmy Awards for his special report on real estate in Chicago and a business feature on Craigslist.
He joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent and later achieved prominence as the presenter of Don Lemon Tonight from 2014 to 2022. He recently served as a co-host of CNN This Morning, alongside Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. He was fired by CNN in April 2023.
Shortly after leaving CNN, Don Lemon created The Don Lemon Show, which now operates independently and has its own YouTube channel with approximately 1.25 million subscribers as of March 2026.
Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark was born March 1, 1966, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Katherine Marie (Bouligney) and Wilmon Lee Richardson. His father was a prominent attorney whose firm was party to a lawsuit that successfully challenged racial segregation of public transportation in Baton Rouge. Lemon was born under the surname of his mother's then-husband, and discovered that Richardson was his father when he was five.
He is of mostly African-American ancestry, along with Creole; his maternal grandmother was the daughter of a black mother and a white father, who had French and Scots-Irish ancestry. Lemon has stated he was sexually molested as a child by a teenage boy who lived nearby, and that he knew he was gay prior to this incident. He attended Baker High School, a public high school in the town of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish. He was voted class president during his senior year.
Lemon attended Louisiana State University, where he was a Republican and voted for Ronald Reagan. He later graduated from Brooklyn College with a major in broadcast journalism in 1996 at the age of 30. While at Brooklyn College, he interned at WNYW. He worked for Fox affiliates in St. Louis and Chicago for several years, and was a correspondent for NBC affiliates in Philadelphia and Chicago.
Early in his career, Lemon reported as a weekend news anchor for WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama, and for WCAU in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For several years he was an anchor and investigative reporter for Fox affiliate KTVI in St. Louis, Missouri, and Fox's Chicago affiliate. Lemon reported for NBC News' New York City operations, including working as a correspondent for both Today, and NBC Nightly News; and as an anchor on Weekend Today and programs on MSNBC. In 2003, he began working at NBC owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV in Chicago, and was a reporter and local news co-anchor. He won three Emmys for local reporting while at WMAQ.