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By Beth Stibal |

Megyn Kelly: CNN’s Don Lemon “Pretends to be Objective”

Former Fox News and NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly and CNN anchor are in a war of words over objectivity and racism. Kelly ripped Don Lemon in a tweet that CNN “pretends he is an objective news anchor.”

In her tweet, Kelly linked to a story that included Lemon’s criticisms of the way President Trump conducts the White House coronavirus task force briefings. “CNN still pretends he is an objective news anchor (yeah, sure) while the [mainstream media] recoils in horror at the bias of Fox/[One America News], etc. Who do they think they’re kidding?” Kelly tweeted. Lemon, who has served as a moderator for several of the network’s town hall events during the 2019-2020 Democratic primary season and is listed as an anchor on his CNN.com bio, said on “CNN Tonight” on Monday that he feels like Howard Beale, the character from the satiric 1976 movie “Network,” after watching the president’s task force briefings. “I have to be honest with you. For the last couple of weeks, when I walk into this building and I get in front of this camera, I swear I feel like I’m in the movie ‘Network.’ I feel like Howard Beale. Americans are mad as hell. What are you going to — how much more can Americans take?” “Every single day berating people, lying,” Lemon said of Trump. “How much more — How many people have to die?” Kelly’s perspective on Lemon quickly trended Tuesday as a top topic on Twitter. Twitter users have also brought up remarks made by Kelly on her later Today talk show, in which she questioned why wearing blackface as part of a Halloween costume wasn’t acceptable. Kelly apologised for her comments but was dropped by NBC in October 2018 following the controversy. Lemon reacted to Kelly’s remarks on Chris Cuomo’s CNN show, telling his colleague at the time: “Megyn is 47 years old, she’s our age. There has never been a time in that 47 years that blackface has been acceptable.” Kelly was a longtime Fox News host before joining NBC News in 2017.