Don Lemon Sinks CNN Mornings To Lowest-Rated Show in a Decade

CNN demoted Don Lemon from primetime to morning television last fall. Lemon now shares a set with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.

Since his demotion, Lemon has reportedly berated his co-hosts. He has distressed his staffers. He has also further tanked the network's base audience in the morning.

CNN has long failed to keep pace with its cable news competitors Fox News and MSNBC during the morning hours. But it hasn't been this bad in quite some time.

The revamped program with Lemon is the network’s lowest-rated morning show iteration in nearly a decade, reports The Wrap.

"Since its Nov. 1, 2022 launch, “CNN This Morning” — hosted by Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins — has drawn in the lowest viewership among adults 25-54, the key demographic for cable news, and the second-lowest total viewership among each iteration of the network’s morning programming since 'New Day' was launched in June 2013, according to Nielsen data," the outlet comments.

Specifically, Lemon has sunk total viewership of 16.2% compared to the most recent iteration of “New Day. In the demo, viewership has decreased by 21% with the show's first three months on-air.

“CNN This Morning" draws fewer than 400,000 viewers a day.

Morning television sets the tone for an entire lineup. And Lemon is setting a less-than-preferred tone.

His struggles in the morning have rippled through the entire lineup, by plunging the network to a decade-low each morning.

Last month, CNN suffered its lowest ratings week in nine years. Not since the Obama administration had the network experienced such a drought.

We certainly understand CNN had to boot Lemon out of the coveted primetime hours and couldn't fire him at the risk of racial backlash. However, there was never any justification for moving the character to the morning hours.

Viewers desire to wake up to hosts whom they enjoy. Rage, baseless indignation, and a hyena-looking smile have never rated well during the morning hours.

Yet CNN tried it with Lemon.

Perhaps only Lemon's new co-host and producers have rejected him as strongly as his viewers. A recent New York Post report revealed that Lemon "screamed" at his co-host Kaitlan Collins and continues to mistreat his backstage staffers.

There's not a figure on television more loathsome than Don Lemon. He's a mere bag of self-entitlement, hypocrisy, inaccuracies -- and low ratings.

He's just that in the morning these days.