Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has added himself to the list of high profile figures hinting at a presidential run in 2028.
Lemon, who was abruptly fired from the network in April, 2023, told Can’t Be Censored podcast hosts Travis Dhanraj and Karman Won that he might be serious about running for president in 2028.
Dhanraj asked Lemon whether he has political ambitions, to which Lemon responded: “No, but people keep asking if I’m running for president, and I don’t know; I might. I’m serious. I don’t know; I might because people keep asking me to do it, or if I’m going to do it.”
Lemon went on to say that he is not impressed by most of the people who are thinking about running, and that in this day and age, citing President Donald Trump, people don’t need significant political experience to run.
“I actually think I would be a really good President of the United States,” the former CNN anchor told the podcast hosts.
Lemon was let go from CNN in 2023 following a series of tense events at the network and in his personal life.
He had run his own flagship show Don Lemon Tonight for eight years, before being put on a panel show with other anchors. After that, colleagues started to complain of behind-the-scenes altercations and uncomfortable comments made on air, per People reporting.
Since leaving the network he has started his own media company, Lemon Media Network, where he has accumulated 1.4 million YouTube subscribers, 2.8 million Instagram followers and 2.4 million followers on TikTok.
Lemon, who was one of broadcast news’ first openly gay Black anchors, has also been an outspoken activist since leaving CNN. He is currently awaiting trial over charges for filming an anti-Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) rally at a church.
The news anchor said he was arrested in the middle of the night for “something that I have been doing for the last 30 years and that is covering the news”.
The protestors whom he was covering interrupted a Minnesota church service in January after accusing the pastor of working with ICE. Lemon, alongside other journalists, was present to cover the protest, and then charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and interfering with religious freedoms.
This is not the first time he has teased a presidential run. When speaking on a panel at the Harry Evans Truth Tellers summit in London in May he told panel host Kara Swisher that he would consider entering politics.
Another former CNN contributor, Tucker Carlson, has also been mentioned when it comes to who might run in the 2028 presidential election. If he were to run, it is unclear what party he would run under, as he has said he cut ties with the Republican party due to his public disagreements with Trump.
Trump is a former media figure, having run The Apprentice on NBC for 13 years, and a regular feature across film and TV in the early 2000s. President Ronald Reagan and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger were also media figures before running for office, having both been actors.
