Lemon LIVE at 5 | DL Hughley Goes Off on Trump, MAGA and Colbert Cancellation!

Don Lemon asserts that the phenomenon of white men failing spectacularly in corporate environments, particularly in media, yet still receiving promotions or soft landings, is a documented, observable, and repeatable pattern. He argues that this is not an opinion but a truth confirmed by women of all ethnicities in corporate settings.

Lemon states, "I wrote about white men who fail spectacularly and get promoted for it... Any woman of any ethnicity knows that... it is just the truth." He recounts instances in meetings where women's brilliant ideas were ignored, only to be praised when a man repeated them minutes later. He also points to his former boss being fired quickly after his own critique.

Lemon contends that when powerful media outlets like the New York Post and Fox News attack him personally (calling him "trashy" or a "liberal journalist") or bring up his personal life (like his white husband), it serves to confirm the truth of his original message rather than refute it.

Lemon states, "Every time they try to make me the story, they remind you the people that the story that I was telling was true. Every time they attack the messenger, they confirm the message." He specifically mentions Megyn Kelly bringing up his husband as proving his point about what makes certain people in media uncomfortable.

DL Hughley and Don Lemon critically examine the proposed fund for January 6th participants, with Hughley explicitly labeling it "white reparations." They argue this highlights a stark racial double standard in how the U.S. government addresses grievances and provides compensation, contrasting it with the historical lack of reparations for black Americans.

Hughley states, "When white people don't comply, it's okay for them to get reparations. It's a whole different thing." He adds, "The only thing America ever gave black people was syphilis. And we had to wait in line for that." Lemon notes the speed with which a fund for 'insurrectionists' can be established compared to the difficulty of discussing reparations for enslaved African Americans.

DL Hughley advocates for black athletes, particularly college recruits, to boycott playing in states that enact policies restricting voting rights or undermining civil liberties. He argues that athletes' economic power can be a potent tool to force political change and challenge systemic racism.

Hughley states, "Why would I go somewhere and enrich those... places based on my athletic ability when they only like me on Saturday, but on Sunday they're taking my rights away?" He suggests, "I want those football fields and those basketball courts... to be as white as they want their state legislators."

Both hosts criticize the hypocrisy in how free speech and comedy are treated, particularly by conservative figures. They point out that jokes about sensitive topics like George Floyd are allowed, while jokes about powerful political figures (like Melania Trump) lead to calls for censorship or show cancellations.

Hughley notes, "You can tell all the jokes you want. They cut 18 jokes... one of them was about Melania Trump, but you kept the one about the black guy who's been dead and got killed seven years ago." Lemon adds that conservatives were "pissed off" about a joke about Charlie Kirk but thought the George Floyd joke was "okay."