CNN Star Don Lemon Rejoins His Show After Calling Republican Nikki Haley "Old"

Don Lemon, accompanied by two colleagues from the network, at a CNN gala last December in New York. Evan Agostini (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Don Lemon, one of CNN's star anchors, will rejoin his show,

, this Wednesday after quietly purging for days, away from cameras, some unfortunate comments about Republican Nikki Haley.

The former ambassador to the UN of the Donald Trump Administration presented her candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 2024 last week and Lemon criticized her decision on air, disqualifying her "advanced" age.

Haley is 51 years old.

Lemon, whose characteristic style sometimes borders on overacting, went on to say that Haley, the daughter of prosperous Indian immigrants, had passed the point of running for president.

Donald Trump, the other candidate who has formally announced his run for the White House -and in his case for re-election-, is 76 closer to 80 than to 70. Lemon himself has 56.

Lemon's comment, made on the show last Thursday, was this: “Nikki Haley is not in her prime, sorry.

A woman is considered to be in her prime at the age of 20, 30, and perhaps 40.

If you google 'when is a woman in her prime,' she'll tell you that, 20, 30, 40 years old,” Lemon said, showing no qualms about the source's relevance.

Although he did not take long to apologize publicly, the presenter was immediately removed from the cameras and there was even speculation about his future with a possible termination of his contract in the continuous information chain, with a clearly Democratic editorial line and that in the

audience

Fox always bites the dust, his most direct rival, as well as a Republican pulpit.

Lemon isn't the first CNN star to find herself in a bind;

Before him, the also ineffable Chris Cuomo was swept up in the sex scandal involving his brother, then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a veteran Democrat, a case that cost him his career.

But both cases are very different.

Cuomo was fired, also after a period of quarantine, for using inside information to help his brother when his career was already in free fall due to harassment complaints filed by several women.

In the case of Lemon, CNN incurs the violation of a discourse that he has helped to refine, that of political correctness.

Lemon's ageism

and machismo against Haley are not acceptable on a chain as

CNN.

The CNN staff was informed late Monday by CEO Chris Licht that Lemon will return to work "after receiving formal training" on the matter, without specifying what kind, which can be interpreted as a corrective.

“I sat down with Don and we had a frank and meaningful conversation.

He has agreed to participate in formal training, as well as continue to listen and learn.

We take this situation very seriously," Licht said in a message that was distributed internally at the company.

Lemon has apologized twice: first, on Twitter (“A woman's age doesn't define her personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove it every day”);

later, before his colleagues, during an editorial meeting held on Friday.

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