Don Lemon sues Elon Musk for fraud after failed X deal

Don Lemon is taking legal action against Elon Musk after his X show was unceremoniously canceled after one episode…now claims he was never paid properly.

The longtime journalist hit the tech CEO with a lawsuit on Thursday, claiming EM refused to pay him after their deal fell through. According to the documents, obtained by TMZ, Elon made a verbal promise to pay DL $1.5 million a year to make videos for X… as a way to attract dwindling advertisers.

Don claims he was also promised a share of ad revenue and other financial incentives if his presence on with the law.

Although Don says in the docs that he had no written contract, he claims that Elon assured him of all these alleged promises over the phone – and reportedly said he would still support DL financially… even if he did. don’t like the content.

But as those familiar with the saga know… this deal collapsed soon after disastrous interview between Don and Elon (Don’s first official project with X) – where the Tesla CEO reacted poorly to questions about drug use and politics.

Elon later claimed on X he pulled out the plug on the project because Don took a “dying” approach to journalism.

However, Don claims that his future on X was threatened even before Elon’s interview.

Don claims he was pressured to announce his new partnership with X at CES, a famous technology conference in Las Vegas. DL claims his deal would be revoked if he did not attend the conference with X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Don’s lawyer, Carney Shegerian, says this… “X executives used Don to support their ad sales pitches, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud.” Don is suing for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of name and likeness, breach of contract and other causes of action. He is claiming damages.