CNN Female Staffers Threaten to Walk Unless Don Lemon Is Fired

CNN morning show host Don Lemon is scheduled to return from his unannounced suspension on Wednesday. Lemon was lambasted by both Democratic and Republican women for some gloriously idiotic remarks he made about the recently announced GOP candidate for president Nikki Haley. In announcing her candidacy, Haley emphasized the need for new, younger leadership and suggested that candidates over the age of 75 should take a competency test.

Lemon, perhaps sensing an opening to criticize Haley, who was obviously making a point about Biden, promptly stuck his foot in it.

“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable. I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people — you know, politicians — are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” he said on CNN This Morning, “when a woman is considered being in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”

To create a double standard where none existed before is about as stupid as it gets. And while there was no formal suspension by CNN, Lemon was removed from air and promised to get “formal training” on how to act like a good little sensitive approximation of a man.

But the suspension and “training” may not be enough. According to The Daily Mail, several female CNN staffers have threatened to resign unless Lemon is given the heave-ho.

With speculation rife that the embattled host, 56, could exit the troubled network imminently, a source close to the ‘most busted name in news’ told DailyMail.com, ‘if Don doesn’t go, others have threatened to quit’.

‘People are hurt by his actions and are not going to let this go. It is like every woman over 50 in America has taken this as a personal insult. The female staffers at CNN definitely have. He needs to make his vacation a permanent one.’

Indeed, another CNN insider said ‘the women of CNN are angry. He’s made it impossible to do their jobs. He’s an embarrassment to the network and needs to go.’

When approached for comment on female staffers threatening to exit unless Lemon does, a CNN spokesperson declined to specifically address that issue.

But CNN brass has decided to stick with Lemon despite a “tidal wave” of complaints from long-time viewers.

Deadline:

CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht wrote in a memo to staff late Monday, “I sat down with Don and had a frank and meaningful conversation. He has agreed to participate in formal training, as well as continuing to listen and learn. We take this situation very seriously.”

Licht added, “It is important to me that CNN balances accountability with fostering a culture in which people can own, learn and grow from their mistakes. To that end, Don will return to CNN This Morningon Wednesday.”

The need at Lemon’s age — 56 — for any kind of remedial “training” is dubious. But the brass at CNN had to do something. Will this help anyone? Solve anything?

To think that any amount of training will cure Lemon of his old-fashioned habits — now deemed “sexist” — is a pipe dream. As long as he wants to work in the industry, he’s going to have to walk on eggshells so as not to offend the perpetually outraged.