Jeff Zucker was the venomous boss behind all of CNN’s toxic content poisoning American discourse but he was also everything to primetime host Don Lemon. He made that perfectly clear during Friday’s Don Lemon Tonight when he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he almost broke down crying on-air.
“A lot of folks have been watching wondering what's happening. It's been a really tough day today, and a tough few days for us here at CNN. All week really. I didn't want to talk about it until tonight,” he announced at the top of his first hour.
Everyone at CNN was “heartbroken because we lost our leader here,” Lemon said. And according to his whining, “We lost the man who was the backbone, the glue, and the spirit of this company. The man who I personally credit with changing my life. A man who believed in me when nobody else did.”
Lemon also credited Zucker with catapulting his career: “He is the reason that you have a gay black man with two hours of primetime. A show with my name on it. The only anchor of color in primetime on cable news. Think about that. You want to talk about diversity? Here it is.”
Then there was Lemon’s embarrassing attempt to rally the troops by suggesting they were going to continue to stick to the “mission” “to deliver the fact, to deliver the news” “no matter what it is without fear or favor”:
It has been hard to come into work this week not only for me but for so many of us here at CNN. My colleagues, 3,000 of us, more than 3,000 of us. So let me just say this to my colleagues who may not have been here as long as I have, the younger folks who haven't weathered these storms.
I've been at this network for almost 16 years. We have been through ups and downs, ratings high, ratings lows, everything. Regime changes. We've been through a lot. And through it all our mission has remained the same. To deliver the facts, to deliver the news. It is what we did when Ted Turner turned the lights on here. It's what we did through two gulf wars, through 9/11, through Katrina, through an insurrection.
“Jeff Zucker may not have launched this network but he revived it, he made it relevant again. He steadied it for the last decade. He left us with a very good blueprint going forward,” he reassured them.
Ironically, under Zucker, CNN is experiencing their ratings bottom-out across the board; plus, their credibility has been left in tatters because of the extreme liberal bent obvious to any honest observer and their abdication (bordering on contempt) of journalistic ethics.
As Lemon was wrapping up his remarks, emotion welled up in Lemon voice to the point one might suspect that Zucker had suffered a fate worse than being forced to resign:
So, thank you, Jeff Zucker, for everything you did for everyone at this network and for what you did to the entire country, for the entire country.
So, let's just move on.
Good evening, everyone. I am Don Lemon, and this is CNN.
This is CNN, indeed.
Don Lemon's admiration and near emotional breakdown for a man poisoning American discourse was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Fidelity and CarShield. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight
February 7, 2022
10:00:01 p.m. EasternDON LEMON: So, everyone, a personal message that I want to deliver at the top of the show. And hang on one second, let me just grab the notes here.
A lot of folks have been watching wondering what's happening. It's been a really tough day today, and a tough few days for us here at CNN. All week really. I didn't want to talk about it until tonight.
So, the truth is that we are all heartbroken because we lost our leader here. We lost the man who was the backbone, the glue, and the spirit of this company. The man who I personally credit with changing my life. A man who believed in me when nobody else did.
He is the reason that you have a gay black man with two hours of primetime. A show with my name on it. The only anchor of color in primetime on cable news. Think about that. You want to talk about diversity? Here it is.
It has been hard to come into work this week not only for me but for so many of us here at CNN. My colleagues, 3,000 of us, more than 3,000 of us. So let me just say this to my colleagues who may not have been here as long as I have, the younger folks who haven't weathered these storms.
I've been at this network for almost 16 years. We have been through ups and downs, ratings high, ratings lows, everything. Regime changes. We've been through a lot. And through it all our mission has remained the same. To deliver the facts, to deliver the news. It is what we did when Ted Turner turned the lights on here. It is what we did through two gulf wars, through 9/11, through Katrina, through an insurrection.
Jeff Zucker may not have launched this network but he revived it, he made it relevant again. He steadied it for the last decade. He left us with a very good blueprint going forward.
So, for all of you at home watching, you should know that I and my colleagues will continue to do exactly what he would want us to do and that is to do what I'm going to do right now. Deliver the news no matter what it is without fear or favor.
So, thank you, Jeff Zucker, for everything you did for everyone at this network and for what you did to the entire country, for the entire country.
So, let's just move on.
Good evening, everyone. I am Don Lemon, and this is CNN.
