Don Lemon off ‘CNN This Morning’ after Nikki Haley’s comments – The Hollywood Reporter

Don Lemon will be off Monday following remarks he made about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for which he later apologized.

The CNN this morning According to a person familiar with the situation, the host decided to take the day off work on Presidents Day, who added that it was not pre-planned ahead of last week’s events but was related to the holiday season. holiday. Lemon also had a Friday off, but that was scheduled before Thursday’s online comments got him into trouble.

In the episode in question, Lemon is discussing Haley’s remark that there should be a mental capacity test for any politician over the age of 75. (Both President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump are over 75 years old.)

While discussing his remarks, Lemon said that the former South Carolina governor, 51, was not “at his peak.”

“Sorry, Nikki Haley wasn’t in her prime,” Lemon said on Thursday’s show. “A woman is considered most beautiful in her 20s, 30s and maybe 40. If you Google ‘when a woman is at her peak,’ it will show her 20s, 30s and 40s.

His comment clearly got fellow curator Poppy Harlow down, but Lemon didn’t back down from his stance. Later that day, he issued a small apology on social media, tweets that his comments were “unsophisticated and irrelevant.”

On Friday, he called a staff meeting to apologize.

News of Lemon’s Monday off was first reported by Confider, which received an online lineup sent by CNN management Sunday afternoon without Lemon’s name on it.