Should CNN Fire Don Lemon After N-Word and Spring Valley High School Assault Comments?

CNN has a had a few “oops” moments over the years and Don Lemon has definitely been blamed for his fair share of them. Now, some viewers have had enough. Following his recent comments about the Spring Valley High School assault, and his earlier display and use of the N-Word following the Charleston church shooting. A petition has been started on Change.org calling for the network to fire Lemon.

Following the recent assault of a young female Spring Valley High School student at the hands of a Richland County, S.C., Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Fields, Don Lemon got into an heated argument with former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin, where he said:

“We don’t know what happened. You weren’t sitting in the room, Sunny. You don’t know if she wasn’t standing up. You do need to know more, and as a prosecutor, you should want to know more.”

The new Change.org petition lays out the problem some people have with Don Lemon:

“Since the tragic incident of Trayvon Martin in 2012, CNN anchor Don Lemon has consistently antagonized and defamed the characteristics of African-Americans on the national scale in his mass communications. From the holding of the 'N' word sign before the national audience to disrespecting the Mayor of Baltimore to his most recent comments of the unfortunate incident where a student was removed from her chair like a rag-doll by a police officer, Mr. Lemon has avoided the chance to state the obvious: the challenges that face African-Americans are real and that solutions need to be found.”

The author of the petition goes on to call on CNN to fire Lemon, adding:

“I’m disappointed that someone I used to look up to now is someone that I have trouble respecting as a journalist. Please join me in calling on CNN to remove Mr. Lemon from his role at the network.

“Mr. Lemon has failed his responsibility because he seems to forget the true essence of journalism: to present the facts and not judge, defame or antagonize. We, the people, want a journalist and an anchor that will not be afraid to accept the facts that are occurring within the African-American community and who will encourage our people the same way that person will encourage others across the board.”
At the time of this report, the petition has reached 36,088 signatures.

What do you think about the petition? Do you want to see Lemon get taken off the air? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page.