The Daily Beast Podcast stepped out of the studio and onto the stage for its first ever live recording this week at the exclusive New York members’ club Zero Bond—bringing along Don Lemon for the ride.
Front and center in the conversation between Lemon and podcast co-hosts Samantha Bee and Joanna Coles was comedian Amber Ruffin’s firing from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Lemon argued that the White House Correspondents’ Association displayed a “snowflake attitude” by rescinding Ruffin’s invitation, after she suggested on last week’s Daily Beast Podcast that she might not follow advice to “give it to both sides” equally with her set.
“The whole point of it is to roast people,” Lemon said. “Remember, the people that she’s going to criticize, many of them—especially the Trump folks on the right—they are the ‘free speech absolutist’ people.”
Lemon also spoke candidly about being fired from CNN in 2023, and the freedoms he’s gained running his own show since then.
He explained how he’s had to unlearn the habit of self-censorship after spending more than a decade at the network, because “(people) want you to be authentic and real.”
“I am beholden to me, not a corporation,” he said. “I can say whatever the f-ck I want.”
The podcast wrapped up with a Q&A with attendees asking their burning questions, including what Lemon would do if Trump invited him to Mar-a-Lago and whether Bee plans to bring back the “Not White House Correspondents’ Dinner” she hosted in 2017.
Tune in to this week’s podcast to hear their answers, and much more.
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Thursday. Like and download on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. And click here for email updates as each new episode drops.
