Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X, alleging fraud and breach of contract over axed show

Don Lemon has sued Elon Musk and X after they axed his show on the platform, accusing them of failure of make payment after the deal fell apart on the heels of their contentious interview this year.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, claims Musk and X lured Lemon, the former CNN anchor, into an exclusive show deal promising $1.5 million annually, full authority over his content and financial incentives in a bid to profit off his reputation and attract advertisers — only to pull out without payment.

Musk and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

The complaint, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges fraud, breach of contract and misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness.

Lemon is a prominent figure on the journalism landscape. After he was terminated in April 2023, he had to find new footing in the media world.

Enter Elon Musk.

Musk had fully taken over X, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022 in a tumultuous shake-up in which he fired top executives, initiated a mass layoff and controversially reinstated banned accounts. Amid the upheaval, companies pulled advertising from the platform.

The complaint alleges that in a scramble to retain and secure advertising, X and Musk sought to partner with established public figures to "rehabilitate their own reputation."

Musk and X enticed Lemon with “false promises and representations,” the complaint alleges.

In May 2023, shortly after CNN terminated Lemon, Musk posted on X: “Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger.”

Musk asked Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership with X in a phone conversation in June 2023, but Lemon had “reservations” because of “the ongoing controversies surrounding the X platform,” the complaint says.

Musk insisted that Lemon could have full authority and control over the work he produced, even if Musk didn't like it, the complaint says. It says that Musk induced Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership deal and that “there would be no need for a formal written agreement or to ‘fill out paperwork.’”

Lemon had another meeting in December with Linda Yaccarino, X’s CEO, and Brett Weitz, its head of content, talent and brand sales, in New York City, where they similarly assured him he’d have full control over his work, he alleges.

In January, X and Musk proposed one-year deal for $1.5 million that would give X exclusive rights to specific video content for 24 hours before it was dispersed to other platforms, according to the complaint. Furthermore, the deal promised Lemon 60% of gross advertising revenue generated from his content and performance threshold payments based on follower counts, it says.

The show was supposed to be 30-minute episodes shared three times a week — covering politics, culture, sports and entertainment — to run exclusively on the platform, the complaint says.

Lemon ultimately agreed.

However, the complaint says, Musk and X “never intended to fulfill their representations and promises to Lemon” and instead “only intended to publicize a partnership between X and Lemon” to promote the company, improve their reputation and profit off Lemon’s name.

Then came the contentious interview on March 8, when Lemon interviewed Musk for the first episode of “The Don Lemon Show.”

In the interview, Lemon pressed Musk for details about his meeting with Donald Trump and asked him about his ketamine use and about hate speech on X. Musk was visibly annoyed when he was asked about his own controversial posts on X.

Within a day of the interview, Musk sent Lemon’s agent a text message saying the partnership and contract were canceled. Around that time, Weitz also spoke with Lemon by phone and said the defendants weren’t going to pay him or follow through with their promises to him "because there was no signed agreement," the complaint says.

“To this day, Defendants have not compensated Lemon pursuant to the exclusive partnership deal that Defendants induced Lemon to enter into,” the filing says.

Lemon alleges in the complaint that X and Musk “gained the benefits of using Lemon’s name,” then “reneged” on their agreement and failed to compensate him in a breach of their partnership agreement.

Lemon “incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses in forming his own media company,” including entering a production deal with a content studio and production company, creating a studio to record his content, purchasing production equipment and hiring a staff, the suit says.

Lemon suffered damages to his career, financial losses and psychological and emotional distress and humiliation, the complaint says. In addition to fraud, the suit alleges negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.

Shortly after the March interview, X’s verified corporate account confirmed the company had “decided not to enter into a commercial partnership" with Lemon's show. In a reply on the post, Musk accused Lemon of being a mouthpiece for former CNN chief Jeff Zucker.

Carney Shegerian, Lemon's attorney, told NBC News on Thursday: "You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here."

“This case is straightforward. X’s executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud," Shegerian said. "Don’s a hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name. We look forward to our day in court.”