Elon Musk, X seeks dismissal of Don Lemon’s suit over void partnership

Elon Musk and X have asked a federal judge to throw out former CNN anchor Don Lemon’s lawsuit alleging they defrauded him by canceling a partnership on the social media platform following a controversial interview.

In a filing late Monday in federal court in San Francisco, Musk said he did nothing wrong by telling Lemon there was “no need” to sign a contract and that he and X would give Lemon “authority and full control’ over his work even if they didn’t like his views.

Musk thought it unreasonable for Lemon to rely on a vague statement that a written contract was not necessary for a multimillion-dollar partnership.

The billionaire also blamed Lemon for the collapse of the partnership in March, saying he genuinely believed it was going to work before Lemon “escalated the relationship by conducting an invasive and inappropriate interview with him.”

Lemon’s interview touched on content moderation, hate speech and Musk’s drug use, among other topics.

X also asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, saying a breakdown of a high-profile business deal “may be cause for hard feelings” but does not entitle Lemon to prevail. He also objected to what he called his “invasive and loaded interview” with Musk.

Carney Shegerian, an attorney for Lemon, said in an email: “X’s response confirms that the company terminated Don’s contract after he asked questions in the interview that Musk did not like. This comes after months of X relentlessly courting Don to increase his ad sales.

“This filing is clearly about Musk’s ego, not the facts,” Shegerian added. “We look forward to our day in court.”

Lemon sought a minimum of $1.5 million plus a share of advertising revenue in the first year and potentially millions more to attract followers and advertisers to X.

Many advertisers worried about hate speech and misinformation about X fled the platform once known as Twitter following Musk’s $44 billion takeover in 2022.

Musk’s other businesses include Tesla and SpaceX.

In seeking to dismiss Lemon’s lawsuit, Musk also said the case did not belong in California, originally in state court, because he was a resident of Texas while Lemon lived in New York. He said the case could alternatively be moved to Texas.

Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most recognizable personalities.

He was fired in April 2023, two months after he made on-air comments about women and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley that were widely perceived as sexist. Lemon later apologized.

The case is Lemon v. Musk et al, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 24-06487.

(Reporting by Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)