Don Lemon played the race card in positing why Minnesota churchgoers “could not understand” that he allegedly was not protesting with a throng of anti-ICE activists that ambushed Sunday service — resulting in criminal charges against him.
The often-fired CNN anchor all but called the parishioners at Cities Church in St. Paul stupid because they mistook him for being a protester in January — even though he claimed he was clearly acting as a journalist.
“It’s weird because they kept saying it even when I told them that I’m not,” Lemon told his former colleague Jim Acosta Tuesday on “The Jim Acosta Show.”
“And I think they were looking at me, and because the bulk of the protesters were black, maybe they thought because I’m black that – and I kept saying, ‘I’m not a protester. I’m here covering the protest. I’m not with them.’”
Lemon, who was sensationally fired from CNN in April 2023 over allegations of misogyny, further implied that the Minnesota churchgoers were too dumb to realize what he was doing.
“And they were, you know, they just for some reason could not understand,” he said. “So why they couldn’t figure that out, I don’t know.”
Acosta, who left CNN in January 2025, played a clip of Lemon’s Jan. 18 stunt, when he filmed himself barging into the church in wake of Renee Good’s death along with a group of protesters interrupting a service.
In it, he admitted on camera that he had done “reconnaissance” with the activist groups ahead of the stunt.
“So that’s what we’re doing here, and after we do this operation, you’ll see it live, these operations are surprise operations, again I can’t tell you where they’re going,” he said.
Lemon was arrested on Jan. 30 in Los Angeles and charged with partaking in the protest under the guise of journalism.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The 59-year-old arrogantly boasted that he would “not be silent,” as he spoke outside a Minnesota courthouse following a brief arraignment on Feb. 13.
He was arrested on Jan. 30 while he was in Los Angeles to cover the Grammy Awards, one of nine people detained in connection with the protest.