Former CNN star presenter Don Lemon has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and his social media company X over the cancellation of a talk show deal.
The lawsuit claims Musk and his company unfairly terminated a partnership with Mr. Lemon and failed to compensate him after using his name to promote the platform with advertisers.
Earlier this year, X secured deals with Lemon, former US congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and sports radio presenter Jim Rome as part of its efforts to attract advertisers back to the platform after several controversies.
“The lawsuit alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and misappropriation of name and likeness,” stated a post on the Facebook page of the law firm representing Mr. Lemon, Shegerian & Associates.
The filing with the California Superior Court in San Francisco alleges X had agreed to pay Mr. Lemon $1.5 million (£881,000) and a share of advertising revenue generated by his content.
It further claims Musk and X used “false promises and representations” to convince Mr. Lemon to agree to the partnership, only to cancel it after he invested thousands of dollars in creating the show.
The deal would have seen The Don Lemon Show appear on X.
However, it abruptly collapsed in March after the first episode was recorded, featuring an interview with Mr. Musk.
Following the deal’s collapse, Musk posted on X that Mr. Lemon’s approach “was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.”
During the interview, recorded at Tesla’s headquarters in Texas, Mr. Lemon questioned Mr. Musk about his use of the drug ketamine and the increase in hate speech on X.
Mr. Lemon had been with CNN for 17 years before being fired in April 2023.
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The network decided to let him go after Lemon made on-air comments about then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being past her prime.
Shortly after Lemon’s departure from CNN, Mr. Musk reached out to him on X.
At the time, Musk sought to attract advertisers back to the social media platform, which was struggling due to several controversies following the billionaire’s takeover in 2022.
In October, X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced a partnership deal with celebrity socialite Paris Hilton.
The following month, Hilton withdrew an advertising campaign on X by her entertainment company 11:11 Media.
The departure of Hilton’s firm added to the list of advertisers cutting ties with X due to concerns about the platform’s content moderation policies.
BBC News has reached out to X for a comment regarding the lawsuit.
