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KEY POINTS
- Don Lemon has an estimated net worth valued at $12 million
- Lemon earns $4 million per year from his stint as one of CNN’s leading anchors
- He currently faces allegations of mistreating his female co-workers
Don Lemon has been accused of exhibiting “troubling treatment” toward women and “unprofessional antics” for nearly two years since he landed the job as a co-anchor for CNN’s “Live From” weekday show in 2008.
An expose from Variety, published Wednesday, revealed that the 57-year-old broadcaster had underlying issues within the Atlanta-based media company as his co-workers have started to speak up about his “diva-like behavior.”
Allegations against Lemon include that he’s a “shameless namedropper,” had nothing good to say about women and that he had a habit of “saying idiotic and inaccurate things.”
But a spokesperson for the broadcaster denied the allegations telling Entertainment Tonight, “The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip. It’s amazing and disappointing that Variety would be so reckless.”
“The Variety story provides no actual proof and instead relies on anonymous sources and unsubstantiated claims from 10 to 15 years ago. CNN is unable to corroborate the alleged accounts,” the CNN representative added.
Lemon is recognized as one of the best lead anchors and presenters for the multinational news company, having a salary of $4 million per year, according to Celebrity Net Worth. As of late, his net worth sits at $12 million.
In 2014, he hosted his show for the network, “Don Lemon Tonight,” which ran until October 2022. Lemon has since been assigned as the co-host of “CNN This Morning,” alongside Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow.
Throughout his career, he earned three regional Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award — an award that recognizes individuals or organizations whose work embodies the values, principles and standards set forth by a pioneering journalist of the same name — in 2002 for his coverage of the Washington D.C. area sniper.
The news anchor also gained recognition as one of the most influential African Americans across the globe and one of the most influential LGBTQ+ community members in broadcasting.
Before his work at CNN, Lemon was a correspondent for NBC in Philadelphia and Chicago. He was then assigned as a weekend news anchor and worked as an investigative reporter for the company’s subsidiary St. Louis.
In addition, he also appeared on “Today,” “NBC Nightly News” and “Weekend Today.”
By 2006, Lemon joined the CNN network. He became known for publicly discussing his strong views, though some may have been dubbed controversial.
The news anchor earned most of his wealth from his work at CNN. He also owns an estate in the Hamptons’ Sag Harbor, now worth an estimated $4.5 million.
Lemon previously owned two condo units in Harlem — an Upper Manhattan neighborhood in New York City. He sold both properties in 2016 and 2020, earning nearly $3 million.
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