CNN faces backlash after Jussie Smollett reveals Don Lemon tipped him off following attack

Users across social media urged CNN to fire Don Lemon following revelations that the anchor texted Smollett to warn him that officials doubted his claim that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Following the firing of Chris Cuomo earlier this week, yet another CNN anchor is embroiled in a scandal. This time, Don Lemon is under fire for allegedly tipping off Jussie Smollett after the actor claimed he was attacked in 2019.

As the Toronto Sun reports, according to testimony from Smollett himself on Monday, Lemon sent him text messages in the immediate aftermath of the attack warning him that officials did not believe his claims about the attack were genuine. Smollett then went on to claim that it was Lemon's advice that prompted him to not let police see his phone records.

Any mention of these new details was absent from Lemon's show Monday night, nor did he mention it on Tuesday, despite speaking at length about Smollett's trial.

Following the revelations, Twitter users were quick to bring up an article from Entertainment Tonight wherein Lemon says he contacted Smollett frequently in the days and weeks after the attack.

"So," Lemon told ET, "every day I say... 'I know you think I'm annoying you, but I just want to know how you're doing. And that you're OK. And that if you need somebody you can talk to me because there's not a lot of us out there'."

"Sometimes he responds, sometimes he doesn't," Lemon continued. "He responded and said, 'You are not annoying'."

As the Smollett trial continues, people have called for Lemon to be fired, or at least disciplined, by CNN for his alleged assistance.

Some have even gone so far as to suggest he "was helping Jussie obstruct justice."