Don Lemon Ramps Up Rivalry With Megyn Kelly as He Rages He 'Never Considered Her a Journalist'
Don Lemon's latest potshot at Megyn Kelly was over her journalism credentials.
March 30 2026, Published 5:47 p.m. ET
Fired CNN host Don Lemon detailed what he believes makes someone a "real" journalist in a scathing put-down of Megyn Kelly, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The former cable news star, 60, who now hosts his own podcast, slammed conservative SiriusXM juggernaut Kelly, 55, saying she was "never a journalist to begin with" despite having worked at Fox News and NBC's Today.
Don Lemon Said He 'Never Considered' Megyn Kelly a 'Journalist'
Don Lemon is continuing to take shots at enemy Megyn Kely,
During a sit-down with Scripps News' Alisyn Camerota, who left CNN in 2024, the two former colleagues discussed the roles of independent online reporters shaping how news is reported on new media.
Lemon sneered that he doesn't consider them journalists, sniping: "I don't consider some influencers to be journalists. I think if you have a background and you've studied it and you have experience as a journalist, then you're once a journalist, always a journalist, right?"
When Camerota asked if he considered Kelly a journalist, he scoffed, "Oh, I never considered her to be a journalist to begin with."
Don Lemon's Podcast Numbers Are Dwarfed by Megyn Kelly's Show
Megyn Kelly's SiriusXM show ratings are a blockbuster on YouTube.
Lemon might be having a case of professional jealousy about how Kelly reinvented herself with her SiriusXM show after leaving TV news, where she pulls in millions of views per month.
On March 27 alone, Kelly racked up 223,000 views for her show that day, which included examining major new revelations from Savannah Guthrie's NBC interview about her mother Nancy's kidnapping, as well as a possible gang link in the murder of Chicago student Sheridan Gorman.
That same day, Lemon's daily YouTube show only managed to pull in 19,000 viewers who watched him break down Donald Trump's latest cabinet meeting, while questioning if the president had become "bored" with the war in Iran.
Megyn Kelly Was Thrilled CNN Fired Don Lemon
Megyn Kelly said it was 'about time' Don Lemon was fired after CNN gave him the axe in 2023.
There's always been bad blood between Lemon and Kelly, who celebrated his firing from CNN in April 2023, after a series of questionable on-air comments, sagging ratings and alleged misogynistic behavior toward his female colleagues.
Kelly called it "death by a thousand cuts" and said CNN had "just had it" with the troublesome host during an appearance on NewsNation.
The Megyn Kelly Show host claimed Lemon was "too much trouble," declaring that "any one of us would have been fired long ago if we'd done half the stuff" the Brooklyn College grad did, both on air and behind the scenes.
"He was on borrowed time. It's about time he's gone," Kelly added.
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Don Lemon Insults Megyn Kelly With 'Trans' Comment
Don Lemon was called out after saying Megyn Kelly 'looks trans' while insulting his competitor.
While chatting with his younger cohosts on his Clip Farmers podcast in October 2025, Lemon bizarrely claimed Kelly looked "trans."
When co-host John Cotter claimed Kelly "kind of looks like a Barbie doll covered in like WD40," Lemon then blurted out, "I think she looks trans."
Cotter gasped and tried to end the discussion, but Lemon kept going.
"She looks, as they say, she looks clockable," the former newsman added, telling his co-hosts to "Google it."
"It's like when a trans person is clockable," Lemon continued about the slang.
The openly gay journalist was later slammed as a "hypocrite" on social media for seemingly using the phrase as a transphobic put-down.
"Don Lemon says that Megyn Kelly is 'not hot and looks trans,'" one X user said at the time. "Are liberals using 'trans' as an insult now..!?"
