While Don Lemon seemed to have problems with virtually all of his coworkers, his beef with Anderson Cooper began after the correspondents reported on a 2009 Michael Jackson memorial event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Per Variety, Lemon was assigned to report from inside the stadium while Cooper and fellow CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien remained outside. By the end of the broadcast, Lemon was upset over what he believed to be CNN prioritizing Cooper’s on-air screen time over his.
“That led to a come-to-Jesus moment,” a senior executive of the time told Variety. “Don was told, ‘Look, you’ve got to address your behavior. Your performance as a reporter is great. It’s your behavior that’s gotta improve. It’s what’s going to derail you if you’re not careful.”
If the animosity between Lemon and Cooper was mutual, Cooper, for his part, did a better job of hiding it. Cooper rarely publicly commented on Lemon’s behavior. However, he did address CNN’s many personnel changes — including former CNN president Chris Licht and Don Lemon’s ousting — in a September 2023 interview with People. The anchor succinctly told the magazine, “Morale was hurt by all the drama, and that’s unfortunate, but I think things feel like they are back on track.”
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