Former CNN host Don Lemon revealed he was sexual harassed during his time at the network during an appearance on the Club Random podcast with Bill Maher.
“I’ve been harassed by women and men in the work. There are some things that are really egregious, but not everything is Harvey Weinstein-level,” said Lemon.
Lemon shared that a female co-worked had “tweaked” his nipples in the network’s Atlanta cafeteria once suggesting that it was cold in the building. He said he responded by telling her that if he did the same thing to her, he would have been fired, calling it a “double standard” but didn’t believe he needed to go to HR to report the situation.
He added that a female colleague once made several sexual advances on him at a cocktail party. Don Lemon said he continually rebuffed the colleague.
The former CNN host shared that both situations happened during his time working for the company in Atlanta. Lemon relocated to New York in 2013, meaning his accusations are each more than a decade old.
Lemon added that he was molested as a child, leading him to not bring up the situation to human resources as an adult when the incidents took place.
“I figure as a man, I have the power to say, ‘I don’t want to,’” he told Bill Maher. “I don’t need to go to HR or ruin your career. I just tell you, ‘I’m not interested in this. You were drunk. We had a couple of drinks or whatever. Let’s let it go.’”
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