by Colin Kirkland
Source: www.mediapost.com, January 2024
As X attempts to compete with the proliferation of video content across the social-media landscape, the app formerly known as Twitter has announced three content deals with media personalities including former CNN news host Don Lemon, former U.S. congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and sports radio host Jim Rome.
“My new media company’s first project is The Don Lemon Show,” the former CNN anchor posted on X. “It will be available to everyone, easily, whenever and wherever you want it, streaming on the platforms where the conversations are happening. And you will find it first on X, the biggest space for free speech in the world.”
This show will mark Lemon’s first public broadcasting job since April, when he was fired from CNN after 17 years of working for the multinational news channel.
Lemon’s comeback may draw parallels to former Fox news host Tucker Carlson, who was fired the same day from his respective network and then inked a content deal with billionaire Elon Musk’s microblogging platform.
The “Tucker on X” program has made use of X’s lenient content-moderation strategy, hosting conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and alleged rapist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate.
There is no current knowledge about Lemon’s X-based show, how he will run it, or who he plans to interview. But if it’s anything like Carlson’s show, Lemon may use the platform to amplify more controversial views among divisive characters with less fear of reproach.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino replied to Lemon’s post on X, stating: “We’ve been waiting for your return.”
Gabbard also announced her partnership on X, recording herself in a video touting free speech. “To defend free speech, we must use it,” she said. “I’m announcing a new partnership today with X where under @elonmusk leadership, free speech is not only protected, it is celebrated.”
The former representative of Hawaii quit the Democratic Party in October 2022, saying that it was “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness” — viewpoints that align with some of the personal political opinions Musk has shared on his X account.
In her announcement, Gabbard said she plans to bring X users “stories & news about the truth of what is happening in our country and world” as well as “a series of short films that share the stories of those most impacted, but whose voices are silenced.”
Rome, who “will be live on X soon,” posted that “X provides an incredible opportunity for me to reach fans on the biggest, most dynamic platform in the world.”
According to the X Business account, Rome’s show will stream five days a week on the platform, starting after the Super Bowl on February 11. The show, X Business added, is the first of ten as a part of a multi-year partnership with Range Media Partners.
