Don Lemon Makes Backhanded Comment About Jon Stewart Being A Comedian During CNN Broadcast…Then Awkwardly Backtracks

Don Lemon has been accused of having a sour attitude toward his colleagues and competition, and today, he made Jon Stewart his target. The news anchor made a seemingly off-mic remark about Stewart during today’s CNN broadcast. 

While hosting the network’s morning program alongside Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, Lemon diverted to a clip of Stewart interviewing U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks about the Department of Defense’s $850 billion budget. 

Stewart criticized the allocations of those funds, telling a defensive Hicks, “I can’t figure out how $850 billion to a department means that the rank and file still have to be on food stamps. To me, that’s fucking corruption.”

The former television host isn’t new to this battle, and in the past, has expressed advocacy for 9/11 first responders and military personnel, specifically when it comes to health benefits. Stewart strongly advocated for the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, which expanded healthcare access and funding to veterans; he received a shout-out from U.S. President Joe Biden amid the signing of the bill.

But all hell broke loose at the CNN studio when the clip concluded and Lemon was heard making a sly remark about Stewart’s expertise to his co-anchors. In a video provided by TMZ, Lemon is heard saying, “He gets a lot of leeway with the comedian thing, though.”

The broadcast proceeded with an awkward silence that lasted for a few seconds until Lemon interjected, “We were just discussing that Jon Stewart is so much more than a comedian.” He hesitated to support his comment, calling Stewart a “thought leader” before Harlow added that he “culturally needs no introduction.”

She continued to say that Stewart “has stood up so long for veteran rights and fought so loud and so hard, and uses his big platform to keep doing some.” Their co-anchor, Collins, turned the attention back to the Secretary of Defense, adding that Stewart was asking “ important questions” and Hicks wasn’t providing “sufficient answers.” 

Lemon, again, tried to add clarity to his comment: “When I said comedian and television host, I mean he’s so much more than that. But good… uh… interview there.”

Now, I don’t want to nit-pick the situation, but with Lemon already having a poor track record for his behavior toward others — especially when it comes to throwing shade at work — this doesn’t look good. It also doesn’t make sense for Lemon to be talking about the “leeway” Stewart gets for being a comedian. If the comment was meant as a compliment, what “leeway” was he addressing? On top of that, there is the common conception that over explaining is often an admission of guilt, and boy, did Lemon seem guilty.

I’d give a million dollars to know what was said over Lemon’s headset when they realized his comments were live. I suspect it was some variation of “Oh, f–k!” 

When reached for comment by Decider, CNN declined to comment on Lemon’s remarks.