Former CNN host Don Lemon said the time has come to leave social media platform X as he claimed it’s no longer a place for “honest” debate after President-elect Donald Trump won, with the support of X owner Elon Musk.
In two now-viral posts he made on Wednesday, Lemon wrote and then said in a video that he has “loved connecting with all of you on Twitter and then on X for all of these years, but it’s time for me to leave the platform.”
“I once believed that it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” he added, without explaining further.
He then pointed to changes in terms and services on X that will become effective on November 15, which states that “all disputes related to These terms or the Services” that arise between users and X as a company “shall be brought exclusively in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas…”
My statement on leaving Twitter pic.twitter.com/9tYcfqHhhC
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) November 13, 2024
Lemon claimed that these new terms put all disputes on the platform “in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics.”
“I think that speaks for itself,” Lemon wrote, pointing to where followers could find his content like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, etc.
Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis also joined him in announcing on Instagram that she had left the X platform, without giving a specific reason she made the decision following Trump’s victory.
MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” Curtis wrote on Instagram. “Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.”
The U.K. news outlet The Guardian also announced on Wednesday that it would no longer be posting on the platform due to its “often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism,” without providing any further information.
“The U.S. presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse,” the news outlet added.
Following news that Trump had indeed won reelection last week, outspoken leftist activist actress Bette Midler deleted her account.
TV host Piers Morgan appeared to mock the grand announcements from stars like Lemon and Curtis and instead announced that he would be staying.
“ANNOUNCEMENT: I am not leaving X,” Morgan wrote in a now-viral post.