Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X, alleging fraud and breach of contract over axed show

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Don Lemon has sued Elon Musk and X after axing his show on the platform, accusing the billionaire and his company of failure of payment after the deal fell apart on the heels of their contentious interview earlier this year. The lawsuit filed Thursday claims the billionaire and X lured Lemon into an exclusive show deal promising $1.5 million annually, full authority over his content and financial incentives in a bid to profit off the former CNN anchor's reputation and attract advertisers — only to pull out without payment. Elon Musk and X did not immediately respond to NBC News requests for comment on the lawsuit. The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco County, alleges fraud, breach of contract and misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness. Lemon is a prominent figure in the journalism landscape. After the longtime CNN anchor was terminated in April 2023, he had to find new footing in the media world. Enter Elon Musk. Musk had fully taken over X, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022 in a tumultuous shake up that saw him fire top executives, initiate a mass layoff and controversially reinstate banned accounts. Amid the upheaval, companies pulled advertising from the platform. The complaint alleges that in a scramble to retain and secure advertising, X and Musk sought to partner with established public figures to "rehabilitate their own reputation." Musk and X allegedly enticed Lemon with “false promises and representations,” according to the complaint. In May 2023, shortly after CNN terminated Lemon, Musk posted on X on May 9 saying: “Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger.” Lemon had a phone conversation with Musk on June 2023 during which Musk asked him to enter into an exclusive partnership with X, but Lemon had “reservations” due to “the ongoing controversies surrounding the X platform,” the complaint said. Musk insisted that Lemon could have full authority and control over the work he produced, even if Musk didn't like it. The complaint said that Musk induced Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership deal and “there would be no need for a formal written agreement or to ‘fill out paperwork.’” Lemon had another meeting in December 2023 with Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive officer of X, and Brett Weitz, X's head of content, talent and brand sales, in New York City, where they similarly assured the journalist that he’d have full control over his work. In January this year, X and Musk presented to Lemon a one-year deal proposal for $1.5 million that would give X exclusive rights to specific video content for a 24 hour period before it was dispersed to other platforms. Further, the deal promised Lemon 60% of gross advertising revenue generated from his content and performance threshold payments based on follower counts, according to the complaint. The show was supposed to be 30 minute episodes shared three times a week — covering politics, culture, sports and entertainment — to run exclusively on the platform. Lemon ultimately agreed. However, the complaint said Musk and X “never intended to fulfill their representations and promises to Lemon,” and instead “only intended to publicize a partnership between X and Lemon” to promote the company, improve their reputation and profit off Lemon’s name. Then came the contentious interview on March 8 this year, in which Lemon interviewed Musk for the first episode of “The Don Lemon Show.” In that interview, Lemon pressed Musk for details on his meeting with Donald Trump, asked Musk about his ketamine use and about hate speech on X. Musk was visibly annoyed when asked about his own controversial tweets on X. Within one day of the interview, Musk sent Lemon’s agent a text message stating Lemon’s partnership and contract was cancelled. Around this time Weitz also spoke with Lemon via phone and said the defendants were not going to pay him or follow through with their promises made to him "because there was no signed agreement," the complaint said. “To this day, Defendants have not compensated Lemon pursuant to the exclusive partnership deal that Defendants induced Lemon to enter into,” the filing said. Lemon alleges that X and Musk “gained the benefits of using Lemon’s name” then “reneged” on their agreement with him and failed to compensate him in a breach of their partnership agreement, according to the complaint. It came after Lemon “incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses in forming his own media company,” including entering a production deal with a content studio and production company, creating a studio to record his content, purchasing production equipment and hiring staff, the suit said. Lemon suffered damages to his career, financial losses, and psychological and emotional distress and humiliation as a result of the ordeal, the complaint said. In addition to fraud, the suit alleges negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment. Shortly after the March interview, X’s verified corporate account confirmed the company had “decided not to enter into a commercial partnership" with Lemon's show. In a reply on that post, Musk accused Lemon of being a mouthpiece for former CNN chief Jeff Zucker. Carney Shegerian, Lemon's attorney, told NBC News on Thursday: "You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here." “This case is straightforward. X’s executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud," Shegerian said. "Don’s a hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name. We look forward to our day in court.”