Don Lemon Says He Was Sexually Harassed at CNN, Remembers One Woman ‘Tweaked’ His Nipples

Don Lemon accused unnamed CNN colleagues for the first time Sunday of sexually harassing him during his 17-year tenure at the news network, recalling one specific instance that saw a female staffer tweak his nipples in the company’s Atlanta cafeteria. Another involved an off-site encounter with a female staffer when he was still “so new” at the company.

Joining Bill Maher for his “Club Random” podcast in a nearly two-hour conversation, the journalist said that he never went to HR or management over such instances because he feared “they may find a way to get rid of me.” (Lemon was fired from the network in 2023 amid accusations of misogyny and workplace misconduct.)

“I have been harassed by women and men in the work[place]. And some things are not even — it’s ridiculous,” Lemon said. “Now look, there are some things that are really egregious, but not everything is Harvey Weinstein-level.”

That’s when Lemon shared details of encounters with two women he worked with in Atlanta. One involved a “young lady” who comically “tweaked my nipples” in the cafeteria and exclaimed “Oh, it’s cold in here!”

“I said, ‘OK, you realize if I did that they’d be walking me out the door right now?’ But I didn’t care to go to HR,” Lemon recalled. “I didn’t say anything because I was just like, it’s a double standard, it’s fine.”

Lemon was more reticent when speaking of the second woman, also an alleged Atlanta staffer when he “was so new there.”

“I’ve never told this story as well, someone who I worked with also harassed me at CNN, and I never went to management. First of all, I was so new there — a woman, and she knew I was gay. And it was bizarre,” Lemon shared. “She was going through a divorce, it was just weird. And I never went to management. First of all, I thought, like, OK, they may find a way to get rid of me because if I told this story, I don’t know if they’re going to believe me or not. But then she was so mean to me after that, I was like, ‘I should’ve told the story.’ But yeah, I’ve been harassed by men and women.”

Prodded by Maher for more details on what constituted being “harassed” by this second woman, Lemon shared that “it wasn’t a ‘twirl for me'” cliché of workplace power abuse, but that it occurred out of the office.

“There’s a lot of cocktail parties, and remember, this was awhile ago and there was not Uber or anything like that, and if you are in Atlanta, taxis aren’t available,” Lemon said. “And so you say, ‘Hey, we’ve had a couple drinks, do you mind I –‘ ‘Oh, no, no, no stay in the guest room,’ that sort of thing.”

CNN declined TheWrap’s request for comment for this story.

Maher and Lemon’s conversation of workplace harassment began while they criticized the Democratic Party and its habit of what Lemon called getting “rid of their strongest allies for some stupid thing.”

He cited Al Franken, who was run out of politics in 2018 amid allegations of sexual misconduct during a USO comedy tour in 2006.

“No one is perfect. Look at Al Franken. It was the dumbest thing that I’ve ever seen,” Lemon said. “I had a really tough time, I’m in New York, I had a really tough time filling in the dot for Kirsten Gillibrand because she did that and she was such virtue signaling.”

“Don, I’m sure if you had a nickel for every time someone’s hand drifted down your waist when you were taking a picture with them, you’d be a very rich man,” Maher quipped. “I’m just guessing.”

“I’m an adult, and maybe I think it is different for men and women, depending on the power structure,” Lemon later reflected. “I think it’s flattering as long as you can send them off easily. As a man, I could say, ‘No, I’m not interested.’”

Listen to Lemon’s full “Club Random” podcast interview here. Discussion of Lemon’s experience of sexual harassment at CNN begins around the 14-minute mark.

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