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- Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson were both ousted from their jobs at CNN and Fox News on April 24.
- Carlson announced on Tuesday that he would be bringing his show to Twitter instead.
- And as Musk tried to settle political concerns, he reached out to Lemon to suggest he do the same.
Elon Musk reached out to former CNN host Don Lemon to suggest he starts a new show on Twitter, days after Fox News star host Tucker Carlson announced his own plans to do so.
Lemon and Carlson, longtime TV news hosts, were both abruptly fired on April 24. News of Lemon's departure came shortly after a report from Variety alleged that he had a history of misogynistic behavior at the network – he later denied these allegations. CNN said the two parties had "parted ways."
This week, Musk replied to Lemon's tweet from April 24 – the day both he and Carlson were ousted, saying: "Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger."
The invite came shortly after Musk posted an explanation of Carlson's refuge on the platform, apparently trying to settle concerns about the right-wing firebrand.
"On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said," the Twitter CEO said. "I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform."
It is not clear why the former Fox News host was fired. The news came in the wake of the company's $787.5 million defamation settlement with voting machine manufacturer Dominion. The lawsuit said that Fox News broadcast unfounded claims about Dominion's machines changing votes for then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Dominion gathered transcripts that showed how Carlson and other hosts had pushed this conspiracy theory.
Carlson's three-minute video announcing his plans to post his political coverage on Twitter has already racked up 24.7 million views since Tuesday.
By comparison, he averaged 3.2 million views on Fox in the first quarter of this year, per the Los Angeles Times. But Twitter also calculates this differently, because only half the video has to be on the screen for two seconds to count as a view.
"There aren't many platforms left that allow free speech," Carlson said in his Tuesday announcement. "The last big one remaining in the world – the only one – is Twitter."
It's still clear that Carlson's presence on the platform holds weight, as Bloomberg reported his Twitter announcement wiped $235 million from Rumble – a video network backed by Peter Thiel that is seen as a right-wing alternative to YouTube.
If Lemon did take up Musk's offer, it could provide a liberal counterbalance to Carlson's impending Twitter show.
But as Insider's Hasan Chowdhury reports, Carlson's presence could end up only polarizing more users.
Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.