Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins Spend Cheerful 39 Seconds Saying Goodbye to Don Lemon in (FAST) Moving Tribute
CNN anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins spent a cheerful 39 seconds saying goodbye to longtime colleague Don Lemon in what can only be described as a moving tribute — fast-moving.
Monday saw a stunning cable news bloodbath, as Fox News fired top-rated host Tucker Carlson without warning — then within minutes, news broke that CNN was firing longtime anchor and central pillar of their morning program Don Lemon in equally shocking fashion.
In Lemon’s case, the final straw was reportedly an intense segment in which Lemon called out GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over a series of misleading assertions about Black history.
On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Harlow and Collins led off the show with a very smiley 39 seconds of tribute to Lemon, a large chunk of which was devoted to a reading of the internal Chris Licht email announcing the firing:
POPPY HARLOW: Well, good morning, everyone. It is Tuesday, April 25th. Welcome to CNN this morning. We’re so glad you’re with us. We do begin, though, with news about this show. As you may have heard yesterday, CNN parted ways with anchor Don Lemon. In a statement, CNN CEO Chris Licht thanked Don for his contributions over the past 17 years, writing in part, Don will forever be a part of the CNN family. We wish him well and we’ll be cheering him on in his future endeavors
KAITLAN COLLINS: Absolutely. Of course, Don was a big part of this show over the last six months. He was one of the first anchors on CNN to have me on his show. That’s something I’ll obviously never forget. I agree with Chris. We wish him the best.
POPPY HARLOW: Yeah, we certainly do. Don was one of my first friends here at CNN, and I’m so thankful to have worked alongside him and for his support for nearly 15 years here. And I wish him all good things ahead. Kaitlan and I are really proud of this show. We are so proud of the dedicated team that works around the clock to bring you the news every morning. And our priority is you, the viewer. We’re grateful you welcome us into your home each morning.
KAITLAN COLLINS: Absolutely. And of course, this morning we want to keep it within the focus on the news, where that belongs. So let’s get to it. CNN This Morning starts right now.
