Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said this week he does not like the new, podcast-inspired setups that the network has recently adopted, revealing that he has found the shift to be “so cringe.”
Lemon offered his thoughts on the change during the Wednesday episode of “The Don Lemon Show.” While speaking with Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall, Lemon said he has not liked the new look of some of CNN’s biggest shows. Even worse, the former CNN host said he believes the direction runs counter to what viewers actually want from the network.
“To me, it’s cringe, because the reason people watch CNN is for the credibility of Jake and Anderson and Erin, and there is, you know, sort of this illusion, if you want to put it that way, about television news,” Lemon explained. “It’s larger than life, the colors are brighter than in real life. It’s big fancy sets that glow, and that’s what it is.”
“Ultimately, that’s eye candy,” Lemon continued. “What people tune in for is the editorial. It is — whatever the network is — the tone and tenor of their news. And for credibility. It’s not because someone is speaking into a podcast mic with their sleeves rolled up.”
You can watch Lemon’s full episode in the video below.
CNN viewers have been taken aback this week to see some of the network’s leading shows, including “The Lead with Jake Tapper” and “Anderson Cooper 360,” abandon their traditional newsroom designs for set-ups that feel intentionally inspired by video podcasts. Tapper, for instance, has started hosting his show from behind his desk at his home office with a microphone visibly in front of him, while Cooper has begun to roll his sleeves up, relax his tie and conduct interviews at roundtables overflowing with similarly visible microphones.
This new direction, clearly designed to play on the growing success of video podcasts on both streaming and the internet, has upset many news analysts and longtime CNN viewers. Lemon, for his part, argued that the network should be doing the exact opposite. That is to say: It should not abandon its old-school newsroom look but rather embrace it even more proudly.
“I would lean into it. We’re f—king CNN!” he explained. “We’re going to have a backbone and we’re going to have some teeth into our editorial, and we’re going to hold this administration accountable. We’re not going to put on election deniers. We’re not going to put on people who come on just to lie.”
“They’re trying something. I give them credit for that, but it is so cringe to watch,” Lemon concluded. “I’m just being honest.”
