Don Lemon Says He Regrets Comments About Women In Their “Prime” After Backlash From Nikki Haley And Others
16.02.2023 - 22:01
/ deadline.com
Don Lemon expressed regret for comments he made on CNN This Morning on Thursday that triggered a backlash from GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley and others, as well as pushback from one of Lemon’s own co-hosts.
In the segment, Lemon and co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins were talking about Haley’s proposal that candidates over the age of 75 take competency tests, given their age.
“This who talk about age makes me uncomfortable,” Lemon said. “I think it is the wrong road to go down. She says that people, politicians or something are not in their prime. Nikki Haley is not in her prime, sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
“Wait,” Harlow said. “Prime for what?”
“It depends. It’s just like prime, if you look it up. If you Google, ‘when is a woman in her prime, it will say, ’20s, 30s and 40s.'”
Harlow responded, “40s. So I got another decade.”
Lemon added, “I don’t agree with that.”
Haley blasted the remark, writing on Twitter, “Liberals can’t stand the idea of having competency tests for older politicians to make sure they can do the job. BTW it’s always the liberals who are the most sexist.” Of course, the competency test would not just apply to say, Joe Biden, but Haley’s GOP rival, Donald Trump. She has staked a part of her campaign on the idea that the country needs to pass leadership to the next generation. Haley went on to retweet numerous other criticisms of Lemon’s comments.
In a Twitter post on Thursday afternoon, Lemon wrote, “The reference I made to a woman’s ‘prime’ this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have