Cooperation terminated

Musk “angry” with ex-CNN presenter after interview

Elon Musk's online platform X has dropped a media partnership with former CNN presenter Don Lemon following an interview with the tech billionaire. The conversation was "tense at times", Lemon said afterwards on CNN on Wednesday. 

Among other things, Lemon had asked Musk about the spread of hate speech on X (formerly Twitter), the tech billionaire's meeting with former President Donald Trump and media reports that the tech billionaire was a drug user. "Elon Musk is mad at me," Lemon said in a video.

Following the cooperation with Lemon announced in January, three 30-minute episodes of his show were initially to be shown exclusively on X for 24 hours every week. Lemon was then able to publish them elsewhere online. He will now present the "Don Lemon Show" on YouTube and as a podcast - as well as on X. The interview with Musk is to be shown as the first episode next Monday.

The deal with Lemon was presented in January by X boss Linda Yaccarino. She is trying to establish the platform, which is suffering from a decline in advertising revenue, more firmly in the media business. According to Lemon, X had promised him as part of the partnership to make the episodes prominently visible on the platform.

"Decided against partnership"
X announced on Wednesday that it had decided against a partnership with Lemon "after careful consideration". Musk wrote on X that Lemon's approach had been "CNN, but on social media" - which wasn't working, "as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying".

Lemon saw a departure from Musk's promise to allow free speech: That apparently "doesn't include questions to him from people like me". Musk often reacts thin-skinnedly to questions in interviews and repeatedly accuses the media of false reporting about him and the companies he runs, such as the electric car manufacturer Tesla.