Don Lemon is taking authorized motion in opposition to Elon Musk after his X present was canceled after one episode, claiming he was by no means paid correctly.
The longtime newsman filed a lawsuit in opposition to the tech CEO on Thursday, alleging that EM refused to pay him after their deal fell aside. In line with the paperwork, obtained by TMZ, Elon made a verbal promise to pay DL $1.5 million a yr to make movies for X … as a option to entice dwindling advertisers.
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13-03-24
Don claims he was additionally promised a share of promoting income and different monetary advantages if his presence on X (previously Twitter) grew. Nevertheless, Don claims Elon has not honored that settlement… which Don claims is in opposition to the regulation.
Though Don says within the paperwork that he had no written contract, he claims that Elon assured him of all of those alleged guarantees over the cellphone. He additionally allegedly stated that he would proceed to assist DL financially even when he didn't just like the content material.
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CNN
However as these acquainted with the saga know all too nicely, that deal rapidly fell aside after a disastrous interview between Don and Elon (Don's first official undertaking with X), through which the Tesla CEO responded poorly to questions on drug use and politics.
Elon later claimed in X that he pulled the plug on the undertaking as a result of Don had a “dying” strategy to journalism.
His strategy mainly amounted to simply saying, “CNN, however on social media,” which doesn't work, as evidenced by the truth that CNN is all however useless.
And as an alternative of it being the actual Don Lemon, it was simply Jeff Zucker talking by means of Don, so it lacked authenticity.
That being stated, Lemon/Zucker are…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2024 @elonmusk
Nevertheless, Don claims that his future at X was already in jeopardy earlier than the interview with Elon.
Don claims he was pressured to announce his new partnership with X at CES, a well-known know-how convention in Las Vegas. DL claims his deal can be pulled if he didn’t attend the convention together with X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
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TMZ podcast
Don's legal professional, Carney Shegerian, says this … “X's executives used Don to bolster their promoting gross sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don's identify by means of the mud.” Don is suing for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of identify and likeness, breach of contract, and different causes of motion. He’s looking for damages.
We've reached out to Elon for remark, however haven't heard again but.
