Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk and X over the abrupt cancellation of his deal with the social media platform, alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of name and likeness, and breach of express contract. Lemon’s show was canned in March of this year after a contentious interview with Musk — who, according to the complaint, had promised Lemon he’d have free rein over the content on the show.
The complaint — filed August 1st in the Superior Court of California for San Francisco county — claims that after advertisers fled Twitter in the wake of Musk’s takeover, Musk and other X executives began courting Lemon with the goal of publicizing “a partnership between X and Lemon” that would associate “the X brand with Lemon’s good name, likeness, identity, and reputation” in order to “rehabilitate” X in the eyes of advertisers.
Lemon entered an exclusive partnership deal with X in January 2024 after months of negotiations, according to the complaint, which claims Musk initially contacted Lemon in June 2023 asking him to join the platform. The complaint claims Lemon “expressed his reservations … due to the ongoing controversies surrounding the X platform.” In response, Musk allegedly told Lemon that he would have full control over the work he produced — even if Musk or others at X didn’t like it — and that there was “no need for a formal written agreement or to ‘fill out paperwork.’”
That December, Lemon met with X executives — CEO Linda Yaccarino and Brett Weitz, at the time X’s Head of Content, Talent, and Brand Sales — for dinner. According to the complaint, Lemon once again expressed his hesitancy to enter into a partnership with the platform. Weeks after the meeting, Weitz texted Lemon: “You’re set up for a lot of $$ this year,” the complaint claims.
As part of the deal, Lemon agreed to produce ten short-form videos per month and one long-form video per week, and to exclusively publish that content on X for a 24-hour period before it could be posted on other platforms. The deal guaranteed Lemon $1.5 million, the first $200,000 of which was paid up front, the complaint alleges. The remaining funds were to be paid out in quarterly installments, and Lemon would also receive additional funds depending on how many followers he got and the amount of programmatic advertising revenue generated from his content. As a result of these financial promises, the complaint alleges, Lemon “incurred hundreds of thousands in expenses” by forming his own media company, collaborating with his agents, entering a production deal with a content studio and production company, and buying equipment.
The X deal fell apart after Lemon interviewed Musk in March. During the “tense” interview, Lemon probed Musk on his politics, drug use, and the increase in hate speech on X since he took over the platform. Lemon asked Musk to comment on his opinions about illegal immigration, the white supremacist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
“I don’t have to answer questions from reporters,” Musk told Lemon during the interview. “Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform, and you asked for it. Otherwise, we’re not going to be doing this interview.”
Afterward, Lemon learned the deal was off via a text Musk sent Lemon’s agent that read “contract is canceled.”
Lemon is seeking economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
X did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
