Alternate headline, suggested by my Salem colleagues: Two African-Americans argue over racism. 

Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more. Or perhaps that's what Don Lemon should have done after nosediving out of his post-CNN engagement with Elon Musk. Rather than quietly look for another partner or platform, Lemon has gone on a full-out offensive, blaming Musk for being too thin-skinned -- and racist to boot, Lemon implied in an interview with People Magazine.

As is his usual wont, Lemon played the race card with his usual subtlety, emphasis mine:

LEMON: As the show came into fruition, we started to think about guests. I said, "Who would be the best guest for the first show? Who would be the most impactful?" And I said, "I think that would be Elon Musk because this show is going to be about true freedom of speech and it's going to be a global town hall for everyone. Elon Musk would be the best person." We reached out to him. He said yes, willingly, and the rest is history. 

PEOPLE: You certainly had an idea that it could all fall apart. 

LEMON: The possibility of Elon Musk being unpredictable and erratic, yeah. Of course I knew that. I went into this with my eyes open. I've interviewed many world leaders, presidents to convicts, and no one has been more sensitive or touchy than Elon Musk. And during the interview and during other interviews, he constantly says he doesn't care what people write or say about him. For someone who doesn't care about what people write or say about him, he sure does care about what people write or say about him. He's not used to being held to account. He's not used to having to answer to anyone, especially someone like me who doesn't share his worldview, who doesn't look like him. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, we know what you're saying. It's not exactly a dog whistle in reality, although it's certainly intended to be in effect. And it's a rather bold strategy, coming from a man whose long self-immolation at CNN concluded with a misogynistic rant about Nikki Haley and all women over 50 being past their prime. It takes a lot of chutzpah after that episode to accuse anyone else of bigotry.

And besides, that explanation makes no sense whatsoever. If that's the problem, why would Musk have hired him in the first place? I'm pretty sure Musk knew Lemon didn't "look like him" when he offered a partnership to Lemon, and before Lemon sat down with him for the interview. Does anyone really think Musk looked up in surprise at Lemon's complexion when he walked into the room?

This is an absurd smear, and an attempt to make himself a victim of his own choices. Its misdirection means to distract from at least one real reason that Musk dumped the partnership -- Lemon's oddly combative approach to his new platform partner in the very first interview, and possibly some reported conflicts over Lemon's alleged demands. Lemon plans to sue, but news reports this weekend claim that the two never did ink a contract, and that Musk had already soured on the idea after beginning negotiations:

The ex-CNN anchor sent over an astronomical wish list to Elon Musk during contract talks to host a show on the billionaire’s social media platform X – including a free Tesla Cybertruck, a $5 million upfront payment on top of an $8 million salary, an equity stake in the multibillion-dollar company, and the right to approve any changes in X policy as it relates to news content, according to a document reviewed by The Post.

Lemon — who was expected to air an interview with Musk for next week’s debut episode on X — had also demanded a private jet flight to Las Vegas, a suite for him and his fiance, and that the company pay for their day drinking and massages, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Musk agreed to do the interview with Lemon despite the fact that he was aware of some of Lemon’s outlandish demands, sources told The Post.

These claims first emerged on Friday evening, about two days before People published this transcript of their interview with Lemon. His play of the race card seems intended as retribution for this leak, which obviously came from Musk's camp. Lemon's camp pushed back hard after the Post report, claiming all of the demands were entirely made up, and this claim of racism may be intended to get Musk to back down.

Lemon's allegation that Musk is too thin-skinned may be closer to the mark, but why would Lemon target his presumptive partner for a hostile interview in the first place? Especially before having a signed contract in hand? Matt Taibbi, who got to experience Musk's skin thickness over criticism first-hand, scoffed outright over Lemon's attempts to spin this debacle into a tale of victimhood, even before Lemon played the race card. Most of this is behind the Racket News paywall -- I subscribe -- but I'll offer a small excerpt to give a taste of Taibbi's contempt:

Instead, he crawled to Twitter/X, which is interesting because a year ago at this time, he and Poppy were on air whining that Elon gave the Twitter Files to me and Bari Weiss, and denying them to CNN, somehow claiming, “That’s not in the spirit of free speech.” (It’s exactly in the spirit of free speech.) He then sat calmly as “Poppy Harlow” trashed Bari and me as journalists who didn’t come from “major, credible news organizations” Bari and I both had more mainstream accolades than Poppy, but Don also missed the point that Elon chose not to give CNN the story as an expression of well-earned contempt, and was cheered for doing so.

Weeks later, Lemon opened the 2023 year with the lowest morning ratings on cable, then stepped in his Nikki Haley “past her prime” poo-pile, got fired, and arrived, finally, on Elon’s doorstop, begging to be re-branded as an independent journalist after explicitly trashing such creatures when he had the big corporate seat.

Now he’s claiming to be a free speech victim. He is not. He is however in the top-5 discussion for biggest clowns in the media business, a hard list to crack. You have to go deep in the stupidity playoffs every year to earn that kind of rep Don Lemon has.

Indeed. And one has to wonder why Lemon decided to tangle with Musk at all, except to suck up to his former employer or others in the Protection Racket Media. Lemon wanted to audition for MSNBC and maybe CNN rather than pursue the Musk partnership, and got exactly what he wanted -- a Musk freeze-out that he can paint as a Media Martyrdom Moment. It's as hypocritical as it is absurd ... which means that Lemon has a non-zero chance of getting a call from MSNBC at some point. At least as soon as they stop hyperventilating over Trump's Very Much Unapproved use of the word "bloodbath."

Lemon's not the only clown show in the Protection Racket Media, after all. 

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