Don Lemon appeared on the “Hollywood Raw Podcast” with hosts Dax Holt and Adam Glyn (via Entertainment Weekly) and shared his belief that “the public misses” Matt Lauer, who served as the co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” from 1997 to 2017. Lauer was fired in 2017 after an NBC employee accused him of sexual assault. Several more women then came forward with sexual misconduct claims against him. Although Lauer denied the sexual assault allegations, he did admit in a statement at the time that “there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed.”
When asked on the podcast if Lauer could mount a comeback to the news industry, Lemon answered: “If he could come back to digital, he can set his own course.”
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“I only got to know Matt after, you know, the whole situation happened, because we live in the same town and we have mutual friends,” Lemon said. “Whenever I see Matt out and about — or you know, if we go out to dinner, my husband and I go out to dinner with him and his fiancée — and people love him. Women love him! They’re like, ‘Man, oh my God, can I get a picture? I love you. I miss you on television.’ I think the public loves him. The public misses him, but it’s the people inside the business who are afraid.”
Lemon speculated that “maybe in this whole Trump era” where being “canceled is over” there is a chance for Lauer to return, although he added: “It’s more the people who are inside of the business who are concerned about, you know, what happened with Matt. I’ll put it this way. I think the general public would accept Matt back. And I think people would watch him and I think the ratings would be great.”
“I don’t know anything about what happened, I know nothing about that at all,” Lemon concluded, referring to the allegations against Lauer. “Women can feel the way that they feel and I understand that but that’s their business. I know when I’m out with him, everybody loves Matt, and everybody flocks to Matt and everyone wants a picture and everyone says ‘I miss you and we wanna see you back on television.’ I hear it every time.”
As for Lemon, the former CNN anchor was fired from the network in 2023 after Variety published a report on his alleged sexist behavior towards female colleagues through the years. Lemon attempted his own comeback on a digital platform with “The Don Lemon Show” on X, but it was abruptly canceled by Elon Musk. Lemon is currently suing Musk over fraud, breach of express contract and more.
Watch Lemon’s full interview on the “Hollywood Raw Podcast” in the video below.