“I think they were looking at me, and because the bulk of the protesters were black, maybe they thought [that] because I’m black.”
Former CNN host and left-wing pundit Don Lemon has said that when he was with the group in Minnesota storming a Christian church in St. Paul, the churchgoers did not believe he was a journalist there to cover the event.
Lemon, who, along with others, has been charged with FACE Act violations in connection with the storming of the church during services, appeared on Jim Acosta's podcast on Tuesday. “It’s weird because they kept saying it even when I told them that I’m not,” Lemon told his former colleague as he explained that the churchgoers did not think he was a journalist when he claimed to them he was just recording the event.
“And I think they were looking at me, and because the bulk of the protesters were black, maybe they thought because I’m black that – and I kept saying, ‘I’m not a protester. I’m here covering the protest. I’m not with them,'" Lemon added. This was despite Lemon reportedly coordinating with the group beforehand.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, then implied that those at the church taking issue with him being there were not smart enough to figure out that he was claiming to be a journalist.
“And they were, you know, they just for some reason could not understand,” he added. “So why they couldn’t figure that out, I don’t know."
The podcast host, who left CNN in 2025, played footage of Lemon going around trying to film churchgoers as the others interrupted the church service, protesting because a staff pastor at the church worked for a local ICE facility.
Lemon was arrested, taken into custody, and then released on January 30 in Los Angeles. He, along with others in the case, has pleaded not guilty.
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