*Elon Musk has responded after Don Lemon sued him over a failed talk show intended for the social media platform X.
Lemon’s attorneys filed the lawsuit on August 1 in California’s Superior Court, alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness, and breach of contract.
Musk responded to the lawsuit on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “He made a series of impressively insane demands. We declined. Therefore, there was no deal.”
Lemon was scheduled to host a show on X starting January 2024 but Musk terminated the deal in March.
We reported earlier via CNN, that Lemon’s lawsuit, filed in a San Francisco court, alleged that Musk and X induced him “through false promises and representations” to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to create the web-based show, only to pull the rug from under him.
Lemon claims Musk wanted to announce a partnership with him only to trade off his name to rehabilitate his social media company’s troubled image. Since Musk took over X, advertisers have fled, choosing not to associate their brands with the toxic content on the platform, some of which emanate directly from the billionaire owner himself.
“This case is straightforward,” Carney Shegerian, an attorney for Lemon, said in a statement. “X executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud. You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here.”
Per CNN, the lawsuit alleges that Musk, in addition to X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, promised Lemon a $1.5 million deal and added revenue sharing incentive to post his content on the platform 24 hours before uploading it elsewhere.
“Lemon expressed reservations about entering into a partnership with X due to the ongoing controversies surrounding the X platform,” the lawsuit says. “In response, and to induce Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership deal with X, Musk represented to Lemon that he would have full authority and control over the work he produced even if disliked by Defendants, and that there would be no need for a formal written agreement or to ‘fill out paperwork.’”
The Independent reports that Lemon did not receive a signed agreement from Musk. According to the lawsuit, the deal was negotiated during a phone call between Musk and Lemon on June 16, 2023.
Shegerian said, “Don is an accomplished and hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name and holding X’s executives accountable. We look forward to our day in court.”
Lemon’s X show was intended to mark his return to the media following his CNN termination.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X Over Scrapped Talk Show | VIDEO
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