Former CNN host Don Lemon may have been abruptly taken off the air earlier this week, but he apparently has allies who are seeking an explanation.

Rev. Al Sharpton , who hosts the MSNBC show PoliticsNation and leads the National Action Network, along with Marc Morial , President, and CEO of the Urban National League, have come out in support of Lemon, The Los Angeles Times reports.

In a joint statement issued, Sharpton and Morial shared their dismay at CNN’s decision to terminate Lemon after 17 years.

“We are completely stunned at the termination of Don Lemon. Throughout his career, Don has been a superb journalist who was very open to the civil rights community on issues others wouldn’t touch,” the statement read. “Don’s voice has been invaluable to the conversation of how we become a more just nation.

“With the health of our democracy undergoing perhaps its greatest test, we cannot afford to silence his voice. We would like to know what he alludes to when he said there are greater things at play, which is why we urge for a full explanation as to why he was let go in such a fashion.”

On Monday (April 24), CNN announced that Lemon and the network had agreed to “part ways” as one of the co-hosts of CNN This Morning.

In a post on Twitter, Lemon revealed that he was shocked by the news of his firing and that he found out about CNN’s decision through his agent, not from the network.

In a post on Twitter, Lemon revealed that he was shocked by the news of his firing and that he found out about CNN’s decision through his agent, not from the network.

"I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN," he tweeted. "I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly."

Lemon was reportedly embroiled in several on- and off-air controversies, which are believed to have led to his termination. During a segment about Nikki Haley, a Republican presidential candidate, Lemon made remarks about women being in their "prime."

After Haley suggested mandatory mental competency tests for political candidates 75 and over, Lemon said, "Nikki Haley isn't in her prime, sorry."

"When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s," he added.

Following the public outcry, he apologized for his comments on the same day and was off the air for the next three days. Upon his return, the CNN staff received a memo from Lemon saying that he would be undergoing “formal training,” according to the Associated Press.

But many others said that Lemon’s firing had more to do with a tense exchange with Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

In that April 19 interview, he lectured Lemon on Black history, saying that “Black people secured their freedoms after the Civil War … only after their Second Amendment (gun rights) were secured,” repeating a debunked false claim that the National Rifle Association (NRA) played a “big role” in securing those freedoms.

To which Lemon replied: “You are discounting a whole host of things that happened after the Civil War when it comes to African Americans, including the whole reason that the Civil Rights Movement happened is because Black people did not secure their freedoms after the Civil War.”

Lemon’s exchange with Ramaswamy “left several CNN leaders exasperated,” according to The New York Times.

A viral tweet Monday (April 24) from Aaron Rupar, an independent journalist who formerly worked for Vox, said, “According to the NYT this interview that Don Lemon conducted last week with Vivek Ramaswamy played a role in his firing. Note co-host Poppy Harlow sitting silently while Lemon goes after Vivek.”

By Wednesday (April 26), Rupar’s tweet received 40 million views and more than 9,000 retweets.

California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna said he’s “profoundly embarrassed” as an Indian American that Ramaswamy, who is also of Indian descent, is lecturing a Black American about Black history.

“The truth is that the Black civil rights movement paved the way for the 1965 immigration act so that Vivek’s family or mine could come to America. We owe a huge debt,” Khanna tweeted.

Others joined Khanna’s sentiment.

Sports journalist Jemele Hill tweeted, “So Don Lemon got fired for … doing his job? A presidential candidate that says the NRA helped Black people secure their rights deserved to be called out for lying. Not to mention that asinine characterization of the Civil War.”

“Pretty sad if that is the case… part of the problem these days are tv folks who allow the disinformation and aren’t willing to push back with facts,” Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison, tweeted, commenting on the speculation that the interview led to Lemon’s termination.

Lemon's firing came on the same day that FOX News announced that Tucker Carlson was terminated from his primetime show.