‘CNN This Morning’ erases Don Lemon’s name

The day after CNN fired morning co-anchor Don Lemon, his name was, not surprisingly, gone from the program’s opens and other graphics.

“CNN This Morning” stuck with the light wood motif it debuted with — but removed Lemon’s name from under the logo, leaving Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins‘ names in slightly larger type separated by a single red pipe. Previously there were two pipes, one between each name.

Also as part of the change, Harlow’s name got promoted to first billing because Lemon had previously gotten his name listed first in the single line under the logo.

At the top of the show’s first hour, Harlow and Collins addressed Lemon’s departure in the show’s cold open. 

The pair reminded viewers that Lemon had departed and read a portion of CEO Chris Licht’s statement before offering Lemon their own well-wishes and thanking him for his friendship and work on the show.

The statement then shifted to the requisite statement about the show’s main priority being “you, the viewer.”

“And of course this morning, we want to keep it with the focus on the news and where that belongs, so let’s get to it. ‘CNN This Morning’ starts right now,” said Collins before the open ran.

All told, the pair spent less than a minute discussing Lemon — with the rest of the time devoted to the mainstay statement on delivering the news.

Advertisement

Lemon’s image has also started be to removed from the key art used by on-screen programming guides and user interfaces, though it’s not uncommon for it to take some time for imagery to be updated everywhere.

Some key art is simply using the show’s logo with the line “Bringing the world home” below it. 

The show’s temporary set in Studio 19X remained the same, just with only two anchor chairs behind the desk, blocking that has already been seen when one of the co-anchors was out or anchoring from the field.

Lemon announced that he had been fired by CNN Monday, April 24, 2023, just hours after anchoring what would be his last appearance on the network.

Ironically, the trio celebrated everyone being back together in-studio at the top of Monday’s show.