What Did Elon Musk Say In His Interview With Don Lemon? The Divisive 'Elon Musk VS Don Lemon' Controversy Explained

Elon Musk and broadcast journalist Don Lemon have recently faced off in a heated and truly bizarre interview, one that seems to have left a stain on both of their reputations. But there's a lot more to it than that.

Here's everything you need to know about the hour-long interview between the two that ultimately ended Lemon's partnership with X / Twitter and left thousands of X users very entertained in recent days.

What's The Story Behind Don Lemon's Interview With Elon Musk?

Back in 2023, Musk made several attempts to entice Lemon into making a deal with X, allowing him to produce The Don Lemon Show on the site, saying that giving a platform to leftist voices would be an important step in freedom of speech, with Musk routinely reiterating that he's a proponent of free speech.

Following Lemon's firing from CNN, he started to consider this and had apparently been in talks with the X staff for quite some time. The first episode of his show was going to be the interview with Musk, airing on March 18th, 2024.

However, after the interview was conducted a week before its release, Musk pulled the plug on the partnership. Lemon decided the show would go on, even though X was no longer supporting him.

What Did Elon Musk Say In His Interview With Don Lemon?

It might be better to ask what he didn't say. The two of them discussed the upcoming presidential election, Musk's ketamine therapy, inclusivity in the healthcare system, wokeness, pronouns, Musk's past tweets and much more. Over its course, Lemon asked Musk a lot of hard questions, and Musk seemed to grow increasingly frustrated with them as the discussion progressed.

There are a lot of parts of the interview that earned viral attention, but one clip, in particular, making rounds online shows Musk in what appears to be visible distress after being questioned by Lemon about his acquisition of Twitter.

The whole interview was eventually posted by Lemon on March 18th, and prior to the successful upload, Lemon claimed a roughly 40-minute delay occurred because suspicious technical issues from X prevented the video of Musk's interview from both properly uploading and playing.

How Are People Reacting To Elon Musk's Interview With Don Lemon?

The general reaction to the interview seems to depend on which corner of the political spectrum a user is affiliated with. For instance, much of Musk's support is coming from accounts with handles such as @EndWokeness or other conservatives, though not exclusively.

On the other hand, many leftists and members of Lemon's main audience seem to think Elon Musk has just made a fool of himself with the interview. Some of them think the reason Musk canceled his partnership with The Don Lemon Show was because he knew the interview wouldn't paint him in a particularly positive light, though this is merely speculation.

Why Was Don Lemon's Partnership With X Canceled?

Apparently, only a few hours after sitting down with Lemon for an interview, Musk made the decision to cancel the partnership X was forming with Don Lemon, so it's widely believed but unconfirmed that Musk was unhappy with the way the interview went and that inspired him to shut down the show. On March 13th, Lemon posted the following statement to his X account addressing the matter from his perspective:

Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform. He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday. That interview will remain the premiere episode of The Don Lemon Show on Monday, March 18th.

Elon publicly encouraged me to join X with a new show, saying I would have his "full support," and that his digital town square is for all." He and his team pursued the deal in numerous conversations and made significant commitments about the support X would provide for the show. I made the decision to work with them in a unique partnership that I believed would ultimately assure that my work would be available to the most people, in the largest possible venue. I took Elon and his management team's word that they, for the first time, were interested in working directly with new and diverse voices.

There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging, converting everything from SpaceX to the presidential election. We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.

Our conversation will be available on YouTube, wherever you listen to podcasts and X. This will be just the first of many episodes of The Don Lemon Show. While Elon goes back on his word, I will be doubling down on my commitment to free speech and I cannot wait to get started.

For the full history of Elon Musk's Don Lemon interview, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.