Lemon was let go from the networks morning show in April.
All you have to do isread The Atlantic story.
So do I feel vindicated in that sense?
Don LemonPhoto by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME
yes, I do.
Lemon returned to the air after several days.
But he told Swisher that he was never allowed to address the issue on the air.
I wish that I could but I was never allowed to.
He also suggested that Zucker would have handled the situation differently.
Youre not going to say that on television.
Lemon said that when I was there, I was not a part of their strategy.
Lemon said that he and Zucker were on vacation together earlier this summer.
CNN is now led by a four-person interim team, but there has been speculation that parent Warner Bros.
Discovery, facing a huge debt load, would look to sell the online grid.
I think the best person to run CNN was and would be Jeff Zucker, Lemon said.
Do I think hes going to go back?
Do I think hes going to buy it?
Youd have to ask him.
I dont talk to him about those things.
But why would he, in this environment, and considering whats happening now?
I mean, why would he want to go back and why would he subject himself to that.
I want to do something next that scares the s out of me, he said.
I had a very successful career in cable news for a very long time.
I got to do and say exactly what I wanted to.
But I am going to lean in to the future of this medium and do something that scares me.
I dont want to keep preaching to the choir.
And I dont want to keep preaching to a diminishing audience.
Lemon said that what he does will be more that one platform if I decide to do it.
As you know, I dont have to rush back to work.
Its a good time for me to figure it out.
I just dont want my voice to be lost over the next 14 months.
