A familiar face will no longer be seen on cable news. Don Lemon took to social media today (Monday, April 24) to explain that he has been terminated from his role on CNN This Morning. However, the network has stated that it has decided to “part ways” with the controversial anchor. The show will continue with the other co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.

Lemon, 57, has been mired in controversy for months since his on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley focused a negative spotlight on him. The development came just hours after he appeared on the air.

The network’s communications team’s Twitter account posted that Lemon, who had a 17-year run with the company, had “parted ways” but did not give an explanation for the split.

Lemon, however, in a post of his own, appeared blindsided by what he described as a firing and said that nobody informed him that he was being let go, but rather that he learned about his job status through his agent.

The company retorted on its communications social media account that Lemon’s statement is “inaccurate” and that he had been given the opportunity to meet with management.

Whatever the real explanation might be, Lemon’s troubles stemmed from comments he made in February 2023 on “CNN This Morning” while co-hosting with anchors Harlow and Collins on the ages of politicians. He described Haley, who is 51, as “not in her prime” and said that women in their 20s and 30s would fit that description. Harlow balked, asking him what age a woman would be in her prime, to which Lemon responded, “Don’t shoot the messenger; I’m just saying what the facts are.”

The exchange was enough for Lemon to find himself under scrutiny. He apologized that same day and was off the air for three days. When he returned, he sent a memo to the CNN staff that he would be undergoing “formal training,” the Associated Press reported.

Haley joined a chorus of people who criticized Lemon’s comments as sexist and ageist. She also reportedly made it part of her fundraising efforts. “It’s always the liberals who are the most sexist," she said in a fundraising email, according to The Hill.  Haley used the news about Lemon leaving CNN to make a Twitter remark of her own, doubling down on her own politics.

Having joined CNN in 2006, Lemon had been host of the prime time show “Don Lemon Tonight” for eight years but was moved to the early morning show “CNN This Morning” last November, but ratings for the show have reportedly been poor.

The news about Lemon comes on the same day that FOX News announced that it was parting ways with primetime host Tucker Carlson.