Biography

Donald Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American journalist and television news anchor, best known as the host of the prime-time weekend edition of CNN Newsroom, based in New York. He currently is the co-host of CNN Tonight. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. Lemon then worked as a news correspondent for NBC on its programming, such as Today and NBC Nightly News, after which he joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent. He later achieved prominence as the presenter of CNN Tonight beginning in 2014. Lemon is also a recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award and three regional Emmy Awards. Since 2014, he has also co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from New Orleans with Brooke Baldwin. In May 2021, it was announced that Lemon, along with CNN fellow journalist Chris Cuomo, would launch a podcast named "The Handoff". The audio show will center around "politics and personal" and will be teleprompter-free. The following night, on May 14, 2021, at the end of that edition of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, the host announced: "So, earlier I told you I had an announcement, and I do. It's been really, really great. This is the last night that will be CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. So I appreciate all the years of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, but changes are coming, and I will fill you in". The next morning, Lemon apologized for "setting fire to" the internet and tweeted that his show would be renamed Don Lemon Tonight, beginning the following Monday. In February 2022, it was announced that he would be hosting a talk show for CNN's then-forthcoming streaming service CNN+ called The Don Lemon Show. However, only two episodes managed to be released in the service's sole month of operation in April 2022, before shutting down.