Sacked CNN anchor Don Lemon is leaving the network with at least $25 million but is reportedly preparing for a potential legal battle with his former employer.
Lemon, the 51-year-old former co-host of “CNN This Morning,” had signed a high $7 million-a-year contract with CNN in September 2022 that runs until 2026, according to a report by Page Six.
However on Tuesday, April 24, it was revealed that Lemon has hired high-powered Los Angeles entertainment attorney Bryan Freedman to secure his exit and probe whether the former anchor is entitled to a further settlement, the report adds.
Freedman, co-founder of the law firm Freedman & Taitelman LLP, is also representing Lemon’s former CNN colleague Chris Cuomo who remains in arbitration with CNN and is demanding $125 million for being fired. Cuomo was sacked in 2021 for advising his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during the latter’s public scandals.
A source with knowledge of Lemon’s deal at CNN told the publication: “Don was signed on a high seven-figure deal for the morning show last September, and is assured by CNN he will be paid the remainder of his contract, which runs until 2026.
“He has retained lawyer Bryan Freedman to conclude this deal, and also to investigate if Don could be eligible to further damages surrounding the conditions of his exit.”
Chris Cuomo remains in litigation with the network and claims he was entitled to a staggering $125 million payout because CNN allegedly defamed him on his way out the door. He called his termination by the CNN “the epitome of hypocrisy,” according to the legal papers.