Former CNN host Don Lemon said some of the blowback he’s faced after following a group of anti-ICE protesters into a St. Paul church is coming from religious communities he believes feel “entitled” — and he argued that entitlement is tied to “a supremacy, a White supremacy.”
Lemon, now working as an independent journalist since leaving CNN in 2023, has been reporting from Minnesota amid unrest following the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good. On Sunday, he entered Cities Church during a service alongside anti-ICE agitators and filmed the scene, telling viewers the First Amendment protects “the freedom to protest.”
Even after saying he’s been put “on notice” by the Justice Department, Lemon defended his coverage. On Monday, he told “I’ve Had It” podcast host Jennifer Welch that the backlash is being used to intimidate him as an “independent, gay, Black, happy, successful man.”
“The whole point of it is they’re detaining people on the streets because of accents and the color of their skin,” Lemon said. “And they’re also targeting people of color and Black people, as well as Brown people, so there is a certain degree of racism there.”
He then pointed to what he described as a broader cultural dynamic involving certain faith communities, though it wasn’t clear whether he meant members of Cities Church specifically.
“I think people who are, you know, in the religious groups like that, it’s not the type of Christianity that I practice, but I think that they’re entitled, and that entitlement comes from a supremacy, a White supremacy,” Lemon said.
Despite his viral footage, Lemon said he didn’t expect to become the public symbol of the protest — and claimed he didn’t know protesters planned to enter a church. He suggested the attention on him is also meant to energize a base he described as racially and socially hostile.
“I said, ‘How did I become the face of this?’ And my producer said, ‘Don, you’re a gay, Black man in America and you have a platform, and you’re the biggest name. Of course, you’re going to be the person that they single out, and they’re going to make the headline because it plays to their base. And their base is full of racist, bigoted homophobes,’” Lemon said.
After the video circulated, Lemon released a statement saying he’s since received “violent threats” that he blamed on “MAGA supporters,” amplified by “parts of the right-wing press,” in response to his reporting.
“If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good — the very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place,” Lemon said. “I stand by my reporting.”
