Overview

• On a Monday episode of The Don Lemon Show, the former CNN anchor said white men are the 'real issue' behind mass violence and claimed 'something is broken' within them.
• Lemon cited recent shootings in Michigan and North Carolina as context, asserting that the 'faces behind the trigger' often look the same.
• Clips of the comments spread widely, with accounts such as Libs of TikTok and commentator Benny Johnson calling the statements racist.
• Some detractors challenged Lemon’s framing by pointing to FBI arrest and homicide data, though the interpretations and completeness of those figures remain disputed.
• Lemon continues to host his independent podcast following his 2023 exit from CNN, and there have been no reported institutional repercussions tied to the episode.