Don Lemon to Receive ‘Formal Training’ After Comment About Women in Their ‘Prime,’ Says CNN Boss Chris Licht

CNN CEO Chris Licht said anchor Don Lemon “has agreed to participate in formal training” after he made controversial remarks about women in their “prime,” according to an email he sent late Monday night.

On Thursday’s CNN This Morning, Lemon panned a proposal by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley whereby politicians over the age of 75 would have to take “mental competency tests.”

She made the remark when announcing her presidential candidacy on Wednesday.

Lemon reacted by stating Haley isn’t in her “prime,” which took his co-hosts Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow aback:

LEMON: This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable. 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 considered to be in her prime in [her] 20s and 30s and maybe 40s–

HARLOW: What are you talking–wait.

LEMON: That’s not according to me.

HARLOW:  Prime for what?

LEMON: It depends. It’s just like, prime. If you look it up, if you Google, “When is a woman in her prime,” it’ll say “20s, 30s, and 40s.”

The host later walked back his comments, saying he regretted them.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times reported on Monday night that Licht sent an email to CNN staff informing them Lemon “has agreed to participate in formal training,” and that he will return to the morning show on Wednesday.

“I sat down with Don and had a frank and meaningful conversation,” Licht stated. “It is important to me that CNN balances accountability with fostering a culture in which people can own, learn and grow from their mistakes.”

Speculation about Lemon’s future was rampant after he did not appear on Friday’s CNN This Morning in what the network said was a planned day off ahead of Presidents’ Day weekend. He was not on air Monday morning.

Last year, Lemon moved from prime time to mornings as part of several personnel shakeups at CNN, which has struggled in the ratings.

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