The debut episode of The Don Lemon Show was posted on X/Twitter and other platforms this morning, with the former CNN anchor’s contentious interview with Elon Musk.
Their sit down, running just over an hour, led to Musk canceling a deal he had with Lemon to post some exclusive content on X. Lemon is still free to post on X, but it won’t be part of a paid agreement.
During the interview, Lemon asked Musk about his posts amplifying the “great replacement theory,” as well as the billionaire’s ketamine use.
Musk said that he used the drug to relieve what he said was a “negative chemical state,” including depression, and that he was doing it under a doctor’s care.
“Ketamine is helpful for getting someone out of a negative frame of mind,” Musk said.
“Do you feel like you ever abuse it?” Lemon asked.
“I don’t think so. If you use too much ketamine, you can’t really get work done,” he said. “I have a lot of work…I can’t really get wasted because I can’t get my work done.”
Musk told Lemon that his recent meeting with former President Donald Trump came about because he was having breakfast at a friend’s place and “Donald Trump came by. That’s it.”
He said that Trump did most of the talking, and said “the normal things he says,” but that he did not ask for a donation to his presidential campaign. Musk said that he does not plan to contribute to the candidates this cycle, and that he was not paying Trump’s legal bills in “any way, shape or form.”
“I don’t want to put my thumb on the scale monetarily,” Musk said. He did say that he may endorse in the “final stretch” of the presidential race, but as of now he was “not leaning toward anyone.” He said that he was “leaning away” from Joe Biden, but that doesn’t mean he will support Trump. “A lot can happen between now and the election,” he said.
Musk seemed particularly irritated when Lemon asked him about a post last year. One user had posted that Jews “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” “You have said the actual truth,” Musk responded. He later said that what he said was “foolish,” but he was trying to point out that donors were funding “organizations that support groups that want your annihilation.”
Lemon pressed him on other posts, including ones in which he claimed that Biden and Democrats were allowing immigrants to cross the border as a way to get more votes. “But undocumented immigrants cannot vote in federal elections, so how is that possible?” Lemon asked.
“It is a simple incentive to increase Democratic voters,” Musk said, pointing to the way that the census is done.”
Lemon continued to question Musk on his own posts and content moderation. “The only reason I am doing this interview is because you are in the ex platform and you asked for it,” Musk said at one point. “Otherwise I would not be doing this interview.”
After about an hour, Musk, looking uncomfortable, told Lemon, “One or two questions I can do and we will have to call it.”
“I don’t mean to upset you. Why are you just?” Lemon asked.
“I have a whole room full of people waiting to meet with me, so we are just going overtime,” Musk said.
Lemon told the Pivot podcast last week that the day after the interview, his agent got a text from Musk that read, “Contract cancelled.” Lemon said he did not sign the contract, but, “We had a deal, and I expect them to abide by it, and we will go to court if we have to.”
Lemon also said that the interview was not a “gotcha” session but a Q&A conversation, with even the questions of Musk’s ketamine use something that has been reported before and that the billionaire himself has acknowledged.
“I went into this with my eyes open, but I was so tired of the pushback I was getting from people who really loved me, from people who really supporting me,” Lemon said, adding that “I knew I was doing the right thing because I wanted my work to be amplified to the largest number of people who could receive it.”