Don Lemon, CNN This Morning team remains civil after exposing co-host’s tantrum

Don Lemon and his “CNN This Morning” co-hosts did not mention any unrest on the set on Monday, as the three appeared together for the first time since The Post reported on Lemon’s December tantrum last week.

Lemon, 56, blew up on his 30-year-old co-host Caitlane Collins on December 8, and the two have rarely been in the studio together since the incident, according to The Post.

After the December scandal broke on Thursday, media watchers noted that Lemon was off the air the next day. A spokesperson for CNN told The Post that Lemon had announced earlier last week that he was flying to Los Angeles to attend Clive Davis’ star-studded Grammy party.

Lemon returned to the show on Monday in much the same black suit he wore to the music director’s party on Saturday, swapping out the black bow tie for a dark green tie. The host opened the show with a report about the devastating earthquake in Turkey and then relayed it to Collins, who covered the news about the Chinese spy balloon.


Don Lemon joined CNN This Morning on Monday after a weekend party in Los Angeles to celebrate the Grammy Awards.
CNN

The two hosts appeared to be careful not to overlap each other’s reporting and had little contact until co-host Poppy Harlow interviewed actor Kal Penn, who had joined the trio on set. Penn, who was also a former Obama administration White House aide, spoke about his new climate change series, Warming.

Before the segment ended, Harlow spoke about Penn’s upcoming March 13 appearance as host of The Daily Show, to which Lemon joked, “I can’t wait to be on the program as a guest!”

“Are you really trying to get on the Daily Show right now?” Harlow asked playfully, turning to laughing Lemon and Collins, who grinned merrily.

Later, the co-hosts had a lively discussion with showbiz journalist Shogun Oduolova about the Grammys and whether Beyoncé was snubbed for Album of the Year, which went to Harry Styles.

But those lighter moments were overshadowed by a host of “tense moments” on the set of the show, which began on November 1, sources told The Post. The Daily Beast chronicled the embarrassing episode on Dec. 1, and Curtis Hawke, editor-in-chief of NewsBusters, put it all together. tense moments video between Lemon and Collins, leading to Lemon’s tantrum on December 8th.

Sources told The Post that Lemon accused Collins of “interrupting” him on air, and that as soon as the cameras were off the host “yelled” at a “visibly upset” Collins, who “ran out of the studio.” After the incident, Lemon was ordered by his superiors to take the next day off, sources told The Post.

Lemon, who recently hosted his own now-defunct primetime show, had a hard time sharing the spotlight with Collins and Harlow, sources said.

“Don has an unshakable ego,” said a source close to CNN boss Chris Licht and Lemon. “I understand that he wants the show to be about him. I don’t know how you can fix it. It’s a very difficult situation.”


Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon, Caitlan Collins and journalist Shogun Oduolowu discuss the Grammys on CNN's THIS MORNING February 6th.
(From left) Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon, Caitlan Collins and journalist Shogun Oduolowu discuss the Grammys on CNN This Morning February 6.
CNN

A source told The Post that to ease the tension, “the show’s producers gave Don notes to ‘not talk so much for other people to talk’.”

“Don is a bossy guy and hard to work with – even he would admit it. Previously, he was a solo artist. He doesn’t want to be in Destiny’s Child,” the source added, referring to the band Beyoncé was headlining in the early 2000s.

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