CNN anchor Don Lemon announced Monday he was fired by the network.
The network’s CEO Chris Licht said in a statement that the network and Lemon have “parted ways.”
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” the statement said. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
In a statement Lemon said he was informed by his agent that he was being terminated.
“I am stunned,” Lemon said. “I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.”
Lemon has been with CNN since 2006, and has spent the past five months co-hosting CNN This Morning with Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow.
He came under fire earlier year during a segment on the show in which he said Nikki Haley, 51, a Republican presidential candidate was no longer in her “prime.”
“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”
When challenged by Harlow, Lemon told her not to “shoot the messenger.”
A report published by Variety earlier this month also outlined Lemon’s history of misogynistic behavior.
The news of Lemon’s firing comes less than an hour after Fox News announced they parted ways with their star anchor Tucker Carlson.
