SPARK Exclusive Q&A: Don Lemon on Authors Night, Trump, CNN, Elon Musk — and Whether He’s Really Considering a Run for President

Ahead of East Hampton Library’s Authors Night on Aug. 8, the former CNN anchor talks exclusively with Spark Hamptons about his memoir, building an independent media company after CNN, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, faith, the First Amendment, life in Sag Harbor, and why he believes he’d make “a really good president.”

Three years after leaving CNN, Don Lemon has built a successful second act—this time on his own terms.

The veteran journalist and former CNN anchor now hosts The Don Lemon Show, an independent media platform that he says is reaching nearly 11 million followers across its combined social media channels. He also will be among the featured authors at the East Hampton Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night on Aug. 8, where he’ll sign copies of his memoir, I Once Was Lost.

In this exclusive Spark Hamptons Q&A, the interview begins with his memoir but quickly expands into the events that reshaped his life—from leaving CNN and launching his own media company to Elon Musk, Donald Trump, faith, the First Amendment and the question making headlines: Is he really considering a run for president?

Read the full conversation below.

SPARK Interview: Don Lemon

Let’s start with your book, I Once Was Lost. Obviously, it came out of all the changes in your life, which must have been extremely disruptive. Was it a matter of pain and then finding the purpose?

Don Lemon: Well, I started writing the book before I left CNN, and then I put it down for about a year because I wanted to figure out what I was going to do next. Obviously, the book was going to change.

I took a break and once I regrouped, I thought, “Okay, it’s time to finish the book.”

I finished it, and it came out in September 2024. I left CNN in April 2023, so yes, I started writing it before that.

It was disruptive. But when I write about having faith, I’ve always had faith. I just don’t wear it on my sleeve. I don’t try to have my faith dictate others and what they should do. That’s my personal relationship—my personal Savior, my personal God.

People didn’t realize that because there are still people who think I’m anti-Christian or anti-religion or whatever. That’s made up by people who don’t really know me.

I believe in a higher being, and I believe in the universe. I knew the universe did not get me this far to let me down. I also knew God did not bring me this far to let me down. — Don Lemon

That was comforting at a time when I needed a bit of comfort—not because I felt I had done anything wrong, but just because of the circumstances. When people say you never know what God has planned or in store for you, I mean, look at my journey now.

The Elon Musk Interview That Changed Everything

When you sat down with Elon Musk to launch The Don Lemon Show on X, formerly Twitter, it looked like it was going to be an exciting new chapter. Instead, it blew up in a way that, ultimately, may have worked in your favor.

DL: Yes. Sometimes God can save you from yourself—as in, “We’re not doing this.”

I don’t like how it happened. I don’t like how he treated me. I don’t like the things he said about me. I don’t like how he tried to portray me. I don’t like how he, and I believe his folks, tried to destroy my reputation—according to his former girlfriend, who said that was all going on.

But I think I’m in a better place now than I was then, and I don’t think I’d be here if circumstances were the same.

Your show is so different from CNN. You started from scratch. How is it going?

DL: I think we are close to 11 million followers across all platforms. YouTube is close to 1.5 million in less than two years. To have done that in that amount of time is incredible. I have a couple of million on Instagram.

To have built what you’ve built in that amount of time is impressive.

DL: We’re on all the platforms now. The thing I didn’t realize was that I thought everybody was watching broadcast television or cable. They’re not.

People are watching on the internet. They’re watching on social media. Some say, “I watch you on TikTok.” Others say they watch me on Facebook. Others say Instagram. Others say, “I watch you on YouTube,” or “I love your videos here,” or “I love your videos there.”

Would you take another network job if offered one? Would you consider it?

DL: Look, I never say never, but I don’t think that is in my future. Who knows? Maybe it is.

But it would have to be under the right circumstances. And I would also have to have editorial control.

You must have a lot more freedom now. Do you feel that freedom?

DL: Of course I feel the freedom. Oh, yeah. One hundred percent. I can do basically whatever I want, and I don’t have to worry about gatekeepers and all of that.

I don’t have to worry about making stockholders uncomfortable or this advertiser or that boss upstairs. I don’t have to deal with that.

Would Don Lemon Really Run for President?

Have to ask you, since it’s been all over the news: Are you really considering a run for president? Seriously?

DL: Well, look … let’s put it this way. People ask me all the time, like you are asking me now. Whenever I do speaking engagements or am out and about, they say, “Would you ever consider running for public office?” And I say, “I don’t know.”

Back in the day, I would wonder what it would be like to be mayor of New York City, but there was never anything that serious about it. Then people started asking me seriously after Minnesota. That’s when people started asking me publicly and in the media.

I said, “Well … I don’t know. Maybe I could.”

What kind of president do you think you would be?

I think I’d be a really good president.

I’d be a president who listened to the people and listened to his advisers. I would bring some dignity back to the White House and back to American foreign policy. — Don Lemon

I would be a president who would make sure America was more affordable for the people who are suffering the most. I think we are judged by how we treat the least among us.

I’d make sure, to the best of my ability, that people had affordable health care.

I don’t think those are Republican or Democratic ideas. I think they’re human ideas and ideals.

People should be able to afford to live. People should be able to have a living wage. People should be able to have affordable health care. People should be able to have a little money so they can go on vacation, have a nest egg and be able to enjoy life, rather than the rich getting richer.

And the rich need to pay more taxes—sorry. Well, I’m not sorry.

But in terms of you being—for lack of a better word—a mouthpiece in the media, how would that change things? That’s a different kind of scrutiny when you put yourself out there as president versus doing what you’re doing now as a journalist.

DL: I’d have to decide because I think the platform that I’ve built—building the Lemon Nation, all the Lemon Heads I have—I think that’s an important thing.

The way this show, this community, has penetrated the country and the world, I’m pleasantly surprised by it. Sometimes I don’t realize just how much it’s grown.

I used to get recognized and stopped all the time during the many years I spent on cable television and, at one point, broadcast television. But now it’s even more. Now people recognize members of my team. The correspondent I hired has only been with me for a couple of months, and he gets recognized.

People inside the networks tell me they’re tuning in. I’m hiring an associate producer, a senior producer and interns. I have hundreds—if not thousands—of résumés.

I say, “Do you realize I’m an independent media company? You see what I’m paying?”

Building an Independent Media Company

But do you make money from this? From advertising?

DL: Advertising. Yes. I do revenue shares, and I’m on all the different platforms.

I monetize as much as I can, even social media, and I keep it small. I keep it tight.

So far, I have four employees, and I’m hiring another.

Life in Sag Harbor

Are you doing this mostly in Sag Harbor?

DL: I’m in both places. I’m in Sag Harbor and in the city. In the summer, I’m definitely here. I’m here on many weekends. Sometimes I spend the week here, even in the offseason, because I like being here.

My husband, Tim Malone, is from here. He’s from Water Mill. He can’t stand it in the offseason. He thinks it’s boring. “Oh my God, I grew up with this.”

Dude, I’m like, “I LOVE IT HERE.”

I get so much done.

It’s peaceful in the offseason. Less traffic …

DL: You light a fire and throw on a sweater. It’s great.

Trump, Rosie O’Donnell and Standing Up to Criticism

Who do you think is more irritating to Donald Trump—you or Rosie O’Donnell?

DL: I’d like to have a big ego and say myself, but I really think it’s Rosie.

I think Rosie gets under his skin more than I do. Rosie is like a punching bag for him.

With me, he likes making fun of whatever, but I think he actually wants to destroy me. He just wants to beat up on Rosie.

When you’re under constant attack—wherever it’s coming from—how do you shield yourself from that? I know your mother is very strong. I know how you were raised. But where do you draw your strength? How did you pull yourself up by your bootstraps?

DL: Well, you’re right about my mom.

The other thing is what I wrote about in the book about faith. And remember, I also wrote a book about race (This is the Fire).

I’m keenly aware of what’s happening in this country and why certain people attack me—even Donald Trump.

I realize some of it is racism. Some of it is homophobia. Some of it is just plain old hate.

Now, people say, “Well, you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps.”

Somewhat.

I was lucky enough to have a little bit of bootstrap help from my parents. Not everyone has that.

When I say they helped me, I mean there were times when I couldn’t make my rent in New York, and they’d send me a couple hundred dollars. That’s very different from starting out with hundreds of millions of dollars. I didn’t have $400 million like Donald Trump.

Honestly, I did it myself. I worked my ass off. I’ve worked nonstop since the 1990s. I’ve had a job nonstop since I was 15 years old.

I made it to the top of my craft. I became a millionaire. I started my own business, which is successful, and I’m still maintaining that status.

I did it because I worked my ass off. I believed in myself. And I believed that God—or the universe—would not let me down as long as I was doing, or am doing, the right thing. — Don Lemon

I’m not going to let anybody destroy me. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, whether it’s Donald Trump or the Department of Justice or whomever it is. You’re messing with the wrong person because the man upstairs is looking out for Don Lemon—or the woman upstairs, because I believe it’s a woman.

The Minnesota Case and the First Amendment

Let’s talk about the case from January [when Lemon was indicted by a federal grand jury related to his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment right to worship] and where it stands. How do you process all of this? That must have been very scary.

DL: I shouldn’t say it’s scary. It’s unnerving. It’s unfair. It’s jarring. But I’m not afraid of anybody. I’m not scared because I know I did the right thing. I know I didn’t do anything wrong.

As for where the case stands, you probably read the recent New York Times article about all the setbacks.

Yes.

DL: They keep asking for extensions because they don’t have the manpower, and they keep trying to string it along until they figure things out.

I believe they’re looking for evidence they should have had before they even made the arrest.

There’s no evidence of any collusion. There’s nothing there.

I believe in my profession. I believe in the First Amendment. I know that my job is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The moment your government or your leaders start telling you where you can report, how you can report or what you can report on, it’s over. This whole grand experiment is over because that means they have censored everyone. They’ve shut everyone up. And we no longer have the rights we’re supposed to have under the Constitution.

Race, Faith and Identity

You write in the book about race and about being a gay Black man. That’s a double whammy. You’ve had to deal with racism and homophobia. Is that a heavy lift? It’s also a big responsibility. The world is not easy.

DL: No. But I never expected it to be easy.

I realized that every single day, or every time someone tries to knock me down or discriminate against me, it just makes me stronger.

If people ask, “How do you make Don Lemon stronger?” Go after him.

Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I’m not fearing any man.” My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

I am not afraid. I’m not afraid of Donald Trump. I’m not afraid of anyone at the Department of Justice. I am not afraid.

Don Lemon interviewing Donald Trump on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, September, 2015

Don Lemon interviewing Donald Trump on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, September, 2015

Looking Back at CNN

How do you look at CNN now? Your legacy there (17 years) established you, and yet look what you’re doing now. How do you see it?

DL: Let me just say this, and I don’t mean it in a snarky way. I don’t even think about CNN until you mention it. I really don’t because I’m so busy doing my own thing. I don’t watch CNN. I didn’t before I left.

I got disenchanted with CNN because they were putting on election deniers and liars and insurrection deniers and all that. Why are you giving a voice to that and to people who were part of QAnon? The Vivek Ramaswamys would come on and just lie about things, and they wanted to make space for that.

I couldn’t even watch my own network the last year that I was there.

So I don’t really think about it. I think about my friends who work there, who I love. They’re the best journalists in the world, and they’re having a hard time right now, so I do think about that.

And then, quite frankly, I think, “Thank God I’m not there at this moment”—that it was a blessing in disguise.

I don’t like my exit from CNN. I thought it was extremely unfair. I think the calls were coming from inside the house—that they were spreading things, even CNN PR—and I know from evidence and proof that that is indeed what happened.

So I don’t like that. But I wish them well.

I don’t think about them minute to minute, day to day or week to week unless someone asks, or maybe someone on my show says we should run a clip. But other than that, I don’t think about CNN.

The Takeaway from Lemon’s Book I Once Was Lost

What do you hope people get out of your book?

DL: I hope people get the truth.

I hope people realize how prescient I was when I wrote this because I wrote about Elon Musk. I wrote about religious nationalism, about donating to campaigns, about diversity, equity and inclusion—all the things that eventually came into the zeitgeist with Donald Trump.

I wrote it before he took office again.

I wrote about this starting in 2022 and 2023. When the book came out at the end of 2024, I had already written about everything that happened at the White House, almost as if I were writing it in real time, even though I wrote it before. It’s crazy.

I want people to realize the truth and the danger that we’re in, and that we have to be careful about who we vote for.

As Americans, we cannot let religious nationalism, extremism and Christian nationalism seep into our politics the way they are now.

Our Constitution says there’s a separation of church and state, and we should abide by that. We haven’t so far.

My religion, your religion—none of it should be deciding laws and policy. Those should be separate things. The laws are about people. Our faith and our God are about us and the personal choices we make. — Don Lemon

Beyond that, we should not be trying to dictate what other people should do in their lives or how they should conduct themselves.

Hangin’ in the Hamptons

One more question. Best thing about the Hamptons?

DL: Best thing about the Hamptons is … September.

I totally hear you.

DL: September is beautiful.

And there is no place like Sag Harbor for Christmas. Sag Harbor is like the inside of a snow globe. I feel like I’m living in Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life.

It is just magical. It’s like a fairy tale during the holidays.

IF YOU GO

Don Lemon will be signing copies of his memoir, I Once Was Lost, at the 22nd Annual East Hampton Library Authors Night on Aug. 8 in Herrick Park.

For information and tickets, visit authorsnight.org.

Don Lemon

• donlemon.com
• Instagram: @donlemonofficial
• Facebook: @donlemon
• YouTube: The Don Lemon Show
• Substack: https://substack.com/@donlemon

Angela LaGreca

Editor, Co-Founder/Publisher

Angela LaGreca, Editor-in-chief and co-Founder/Publisher of Spark Hamptons, is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, writer and comedian/host. Her TV credits include NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “The View,” and, most recently, the primetime cable news program “Cuomo” on NewsNation. On the East End, she was the Creative Director at LTV, VP Features/Events/Photo Editor at Dan’s Papers, and has performed at Guild Hall, Bay Street Theater and the WHBPAC. Her publishing career began at Modern Photography, where she was managing editor. LaGreca lives in Manhattan and East Hampton and can be reached at angelatvmedia@gmail.com and angela@sparkhamptons.com .