Don Lemon

CTL-E-6255 · Person · journalist · 1966–present; CNN 2006–2023

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07446 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6255.

Don Lemon is an American journalist born March 1, 1966, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1996 with a degree in broadcast journalism, interning at WNYW while a student. He worked as a weekend anchor and reporter at stations in Birmingham, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Chicago, and as a correspondent for NBC News programs including Today and NBC Nightly News, before working at NBC's WMAQ-TV in Chicago from 2003. He joined CNN in September 2006 as a correspondent and became host of the prime-time program that became Don Lemon Tonight, which he anchored from 2014 to 2022. In late 2022 he moved to co-anchor CNN This Morning with Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. CNN fired him in April 2023. His reporting honors include an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2002 for coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers and three regional Emmy Awards earned in Chicago. His memoir Transparent was published in 2011. In January 2024 he announced The Don Lemon Show as an independent program, which continues outside CNN.

The record

• Also known as: Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 7 — 747 Program, FINAL Wave 13; seventh Scan Tail packet at the founder's 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Don Lemon entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6255 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — Tier 4 corpus scan tail, corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json ranked #2790. The scan supplied the name string only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: Black American broadcast journalist; a leading Black anchor in national cable news whose Chicago years at WMAQ-TV also tie him to the city's media history. Vital status: LIVING — born March 1, 1966 (Wikipedia and Congressional Record, both accessed 2026-10-16); the opened Wikipedia record documents activity through 2026, with no report of death. STATISTICS — Career spans (accessed 2026-10-16): CNN September 2006 to April 2023, about 17 years; Don Lemon Tonight 2014–2022. Awards: Edward R. Murrow Award 2002 and three regional Emmy Awards (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-10-16); the Congressional Record (December 12, 2022) likewise describes him as a multiple Emmy and Murrow award winner. No conflicting figures were found in the opened sources. MEDIA: photo HELD (named candidate only; no license claimed — PHOTO-001 verification deferred); chart staged in media_specs; video HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 rows, checked by name and variants, 2026-10-16); no near-miss title found.); audio HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.); map N/A (person/work/event record). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (Created for this packet (CTL graphic, CTL-PHOTO-001 lane) from the record's sourced facts.) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 rows, checked by nam) | audio = HELD (No rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged; audio slot held pending a CTL-PHOTO-001-consistent rights basi)

Relationships

• CNN — affiliated with
  Lemon joined CNN in September 2006 and hosted its prime-time program until 2022 and CNN This Morning until his April 2023 firing, per the opened Wikipedia record and Congressional Record tribute.

Sources

• Wikipedia, Don Lemon (accessed 2026-10-16) — born Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark, March 1, 1966, Baton Rouge; Brooklyn College BA 1996; NBC correspondent; WMAQ-TV Chicago from 2003; joined CNN September 2006; Don Lemon Tonight 2014–2022; CNN This Morning co-anchor; fired April 2023; Edward R. Murrow Award 2002; three regional Emmy Awards; The Don Lemon Show announced January 2024 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Lemon (build store)
• Congressional Record, Honoring Don Lemon (Extensions of Remarks, December 12, 2022) (accessed 2026-10-16) — multiple Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning CNN anchor; reported for NBC News Today, Weekend Today, NBC Nightly News and MSNBC; born March 1, 1966, Baton Rouge; attended Louisiana State University, later graduating from Brooklyn College; best-selling author; leading network voice following the death of George Floyd — https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-168/issue-192/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1255-1 (primary source · build store)

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Record CTL-E-6255 · Combined Graph record U-07446 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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