By Sarmind Safi
CNN anchor Donald Carlton Lemon has steadily risen to the occasion over the years that he has been active. His net worth is worth a small vicinity, earning over $10 million in salary and an additional $2 million in bonus from CNN.
Within a very short amount of time, Lemon has become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN. he drew quite a record number of audiences. Lemon’s net worth has grown at a rate of 45% over the past 2 years, owing to his overwhelming popularity among the Democrats.
Don Lemon net worth has grown with the salary he draws from his high-paying job at CNN. Today, we are going to dissect Don’s rise and fame and the money that came with it.
Biography
Net Worth: $31 Million
Salary: $4 Million
Date of Birth: Mar 1, 1966 (57 years old)
Place of Birth: Baton Rouge
Gender: Male
Height: 6 ft (1.83 m)
Profession: TV Journalist, Journalist
Nationality: United States of America
Early Life
Lemon was born on March 1, 1966, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Raised in a Creole family, Lemon was voted class president during his senior high school. In 2010, Lemon admitted in a live interview that he was sexually molested at the age of 5 by a teenage boy. He did not tell anyone about the incident until he was 30.
After graduating, Lemon went to Louisiana State University before transferring to Brooklyn College in New York. When he was studying at Brooklyn College, Don majored in journalism. As a college goer, he gained experience by working as a news assistant at a Fox News affiliate station in New York.
Career
Before graduating, Lemon was working for various Fox News affiliates. He started working as a correspondent for NBC in Philadelphia and Chicago. Initially, he was working for affiliate stations in Birmingham, Alabam, and Pennsylvania. In the following years, he moved up from the role of a mere correspondent to a weekend news anchor. He also worked as an investigative reporter for another affiliate in St. Louis during this time.
Ultimately, Lemon started working for NBC News’s “main” New York City hub of operations. He appeared on “Today” and “NBC Nightly News” while also working as an anchor for Weekend Today” on MSNBC. Lemon won Edward R. Murrow for his coverage of the D.C. area sniper in 2002. He also received an award for his reports on Hurricane Katrina.
Lemon relocated once again in 2003 to Chicago. His presence and work at the NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV created a lot of buzz. He went on to win 3 Emmys while being a reporter and local news co-anchor at the particular station. The Emmys came on the heels of his memorable business feature named “Life on Craigslist” and his report on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Gaining immense fame and recognition for his work, Lemon joined CNN in 2006. Ever since he joined the network, Lemon became a household name with his strong views, abandoning the conventional penchant for unbiased journalism. There are quite a few instances in which he has made comments viewed as controversial by audiences. He also made a number of gaffes during his tenure with the network. Lemon has claimed that he has received several death threats while he worked at CNN.
Following a series of controversies and rating declines, Lemon was fired from CNN on April 24, 2023.
Don Lemon Salary And Net Worth
Lemon’s salary rose steadily from a humble $3 million to 5, 6, 9, and 10 million by 2023. Most of his earnings came from his CNN salary, book deals, and speaking engagements. So what is Don Lemon’s net worth? Don Lemon’s net worth in 2013 amounts to $31 million.
He recently bought a Rolls-Royce Dawn for $1 million, a Lamborghini Aventador for $1 million, and a few other supercars like Range Rover Autobiography, Alfa Romeo Giulia, and a McLaren GT.
His assets include 15 real estate properties, 7 cars, and 3 luxury Yachts. He has an investment portfolio of 15 stocks that are valued at $21 million. His sticks include names like Johnson & Johnson, Meta Platforms, Dell Technologies, Berkshire Hathaway, Alphabet Inc, and PayPal.
Real Estate
Lemon was reported to have put his Harlem home on sale, which sold at $1.75 million. The swanky condo features 1,400 square feet of living area, 2 bedrooms, and 2.5 bathrooms. He originally acquired the condo seven years before for $1.5 million, so his profit margin was small. He looked like he was aiming to break even.
Other features of the property include a large balcony with panoramic views of Harlem and floor-to-roof windows. Lemon previously owned another unit in the same building, which he sold at $970,000 in 2016. He owns another home in the Hamptons neighborhood of Sag Harbor. He purchased it in 2016 for $3 million, and it is presently worth an estimated $4.5 million.
His present home is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and encompasses 13,300 square feet of luxury. He bought it with an estimated price tag of $17 million. The property comprises 8 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. His properties have added largely to Don Lemon net worth.
Controversies
After the election of Donald Trump in 2016, Lemon became all the more unfiltered with his opinions during his CNN job. He accused Trump of being racist and a supporter of white supremacy. Following the 2020 reelection of Trump, Lemon went on to mock not only Trump but also his supporters (nearly half the country at that point).
In one of his segments, Lemon and two guests mocked Trump supporters with a fake Southern accent. This was deemed as the journalist insulting their intelligence. Many observers saw it as unprofessional when he broke into a “laughing fit.” Lemon “laughed so hard he cried,” and it provoked Ivanka Trump to tweet, “You consistently make fun of half the country and then complain that it is divided.”
He introduced his broadcast with “This is CNN Tonight, I’m Don Lemon, the United States president is racist’ in 2018.
In a February 2023 broadcast, he made derogatory statements toward Nikki Haley. Lemon later apologized. “I’m sorry that I said it. And I certainly see why people found it completely misguided,” he added, “When I make a mistake, I own it. And I own this one as well.”
On being fired, he shared a tweet that read as follows:
I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.
Shortly after the tweet, the CNN Corporate account tweeted back, “Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a statement, “Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” adding further, “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
Legal Issues
A bartender in 2019 accused Lemon of assaulting him at a New York bar. The incident occurred in 2018, and Lemon was reported to have “rubbed his own genitals” right before he shoved his fingers in the face of the bartender. The name of the plaintiff is Dustin Hice, and he claimed that Lemon made several offers for him to settle out of court for 6-figure sums. However, Lemon has denied all claims made by Hice.
Relationships
In 2011, Lemon came out as gay to the public. He explained in his 2011 memoir “Transparent” that he had known he was gay from a pretty young age. He also referred to the sexual abuse he suffered as a child in his book. Lemon said that his coming out may come as a shock to most, but his friends, family, and close colleagues have known about it for years.
His announcement made him one of the few homosexual African Americans in the broadcasting business. Lemon started dating Tim Malone in 2017, who is a real estate agent. In 2019, the couple announced their engagement.
Don Lemon Wiki
Here are some things you may not know about Lemon:
Zodiac Sign– Leo
Favorite Actor– Robert De Niro
Favorite Color– White
Favorite Sport– Golf
Favorite Music Artist– Phil Collins
Favorite Holiday Destination– Australia
Wrapping Up
Don Lemon has received numerous accolades as well as shamed for his rash journalism. He was voted as one of the 150 most influential African Americans by Ebony Magazine in 2010.
In 2015, David Uberti from Columbia Journalism Review placed him on the list of worst journalists of the year for numerous reports gagged throughout that year. In 2018, Out named “the most influential LGBTQ people in the USA” on its Power 50 list.
Like him or hate him, he has done some work in his earlier years that led him to quick success. Political affiliations have tarnished the names of many journalists, and Don joins a long list of them.
Lemon once said, “Where are you? Why aren’t you fighting for these young people? If you don’t do it now, when are you going to do it?… if you are a millionaire or a gazillionaire or a movie star or a politician and you don’t step up now, when the hell are you going to do it?”
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