“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a memo to employees. “We wish him well and will encourage him in his future endeavours.”

Lemon co-hosted CNN This Morning with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. The performance lasted almost six months.

“We’re committed to making it successful,” Licht said of the morning show.

In his own statement, Lemon said his agent told him Monday morning that CNN had fired him.

“I’m appalled,” Lemon said, claiming management didn’t have the “decency” to directly inform him of his firing. “I was never given any indication that I wouldn’t be able to continue doing the work I love at the network,” Lemon added.

CNN contradicted Lemon, calling his version of events “inaccurate.”

“He was offered an opportunity to meet with management, but instead he published a statement on Twitter,” the network said.

Lemon joined CNN in September 2006. Prior to CNN This Morning, Lemon hosted the primetime show Don Lemon Tonight for more than eight years.

He gained considerable notoriety during the presidency of Donald Trump for his controversial comments about the former president, dismissing his lies and calling him a “racist”.

He was widely criticized for sexist comments he made on “CNN This Morning” in February.

During an on-air debate about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s proposal to require older politicians to take background checks, Lemon said Haley, 51, was “not in her prime.”

Lemon said a woman “is only considered to be in her prime in her 20s, 30s and maybe 40s.” Co-hosts Harlow and Collins responded, but Lemon doubled down.

He later apologized to the CNN audience and station management.

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