In a dramatic turn of events, Don Lemon has apologized and resigned after the embattled former-CNN news anchor spokesmodel ran a poorly-sourced story claiming Daily Kos writer Shaun King was a White man pretending to be Black. Addressing the shoddy factual claims in the story, Lemon released the following statement.
I used poor judgment in mindlessly repeating a story line from Breitbart, a known source of lies, misinformation, and outright fraudulent reporting. I don't know what possessed me to think that a birth certificate that those bottom-feeding scandal mongers purportedly obtained on Shaun King legitimately proved anything. Even if the facts on the birth certificate were as they claimed, it would not have been definitive proof of a person's racial identity. It turns out, as Shaun has explained, the facts were much more complicated than I anticipated and I made a serious error in following this flawed line of questioning to begin with.
Some have defended Don Lemon, saying he was just doing his job as a reporter and following up on a story that was in the news, despite the fact that it came from a disreputable source like Breitbart. However, in response to that, Lemon had this to say:
The problem in this story was not just the poorly sourced facts. The problem is that I did not stop to think that some things are just morally wrong for a journalist to do. Making someone feel obligated to share private, personal details about his life, including the identity of his biological father, is simply WRONG. There is no justification for it. Certainly, no one should be forced to do this in response to fallacious accusations from a disreputable partisan attack group like Breitbart. I mean, what's next? Maybe Donald Trump really should have to prove that he's not an orangutan. I haven't seen a DNA test yet. Have you? But, just because somebody says something on the internet, that doesn't mean that legitimate journalists need to take it seriously and invade people's personal lives to chase every idiotic scandal that people pull out of their nether regions. C'mon, people. WTF?
Lemon concluded his resignation statement by addressing some personal issues regarding himself.
I also want to say that on a very personal level, as a Black man with light skin, I really should have known better than to have pursued this story about Shaun. First of all, it's none of anyone's fucking business what your ancestry is. Why should you have to prove it on television, just because some asshole asks you? I mean, what is this, fucking 1930's Nazi German where the SS is going around saying "Papers please!" and demanding you prove you racial purity. That's some fucking sick and stupid shit. I can see how people thought I was a massive hypocrite for running a story like this. Of all people, I really should have known better. So, I want to conclude by apologizing to Shaun King and his family for the pain and embarrassment I have caused them. I realize that my resignation does not change any of that, but I hope it sends a message to journalists in the future that it is wrong to do stories like this. Journalists need to have some integrity or get the hell out of the business.
*Tekno's FutureNewService reported that this story will occur on 8/22/15. Subscribe to FutureNewService and read tomorrow's news today.
UPDATE: Thanks, everyone, for putting this on the Rec List. I hope it does raise people's spirits. I realize not everyone has the same sense of humor or appreciates snark, but I think it is important that we use humor as a weapon against vicious personal attacks from right wing haters like Breitbart and irresponsible corporate media like CNN. I know this is a serious topic as well, so I hope people understand that I am trying to make important points through satire, which I don't think can be made any other way. So, setting all jokes aside for a moment, I am taking a very serious stand against the outrageously unfair treatment Shaun has had to endure. If my humor manages to brighten peoples' moods, even a little, then I am very happy.