Don Lemon Riles ‘CNN This Morning’ Co-Hosts For Suggesting GOP Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Is ‘Not In Her Prime'
Don Lemon riled up his CNN This Morning co-hosts once again this week when he claimed newly announced GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime” at 51 years old, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Lemon’s shocking comments came on Thursday morning as he and co-hosts Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow discussed Haley’s 2024 White House bid announcement Tuesday morning.
The three CNN co-hosts focused particularly on Haley’s call for mental capacity tests for political candidates aged 75 and older – seemingly in a dig at former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.
Lemon then riled up both Collins and Harlow when he suggested Haley should not judge older politicians because she herself “isn’t in her prime.”
“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable,” Lemon commented. “I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is in her prime is in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
After facing immediate backlash for his comments from Collins and Harlow, and after being asked where he received the information that “a woman is in her prime is in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon doubled down and cited Google.
“Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are,” Lemon attempted to explain. “Google it. Everybody at home, when is a woman in her prime? It says 20s, 30s and 40s.”
“I’m just saying Nikki Haley should be careful about saying that politicians are not in their prime, and they need to be in their prime when they serve,” he continued. “She would not be in her prime according to Google or whatever it is.”
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As if his comments already were not enough, Lemon then went on to claim that the age of politicians running for office is a “wedge issue” before using his 80-year-old mother as an example.
“My mom is 80 years old. I just gave her a surprise birthday party,” Lemon told his two female co-hosts. “Is she as physically strong as she once was? No. But mentally, she is sharp.”
“Could she run the country? If she wanted to, I guess she could,” Lemon said. “But I guess it depends on the individual.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Lemon’s surprising remarks on Thursday morning regarding Haley’s age and being “past her prime” came just days after he “screamed” at Collins during a heated off-camera confrontation.
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“Don screamed at Kaitlan, who was visibly upset and ran out of the studio,” one CNN insider spilled regarding the incident.
Although Lemon and Collins have reportedly made up after Lemon’s abusive off-camera meltdown, his comments on Thursday morning – and Collins and Harlow’s responses to those comments – suggest there is still tension between the three CNN This Morning co-hosts.