Marking his first interview following his arrest over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minnesota last month, journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon defended his decision to cover the protest in an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“Our first guest tonight is a longtime TV and digital newsman, who on Thursday night was arrested for committing journalism, which is a very serious crime under our current administration,” Kimmel joked while introducing Lemon.
When he sat down, Lemon was asked if he’s okay after the experience. Lemon replied, “I don't know. .... I mean, I'm okay, but I'm not going to let them steal my joy, but this is very serious. I mean, these are federal criminal charges.”
On January 29, Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles for his coverage of the protest, which was over a pastor’s alleged involvement in a leadership role within ICE. During the livestream of the protest, Lemon interviewed both congregants of the church and several protesters.
“Obviously, I'm in the middle of this, so I can't say a lot. There's a lot that I cannot say, but what I will say is that I'm not a protester,” he continued. “I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle, document, and record what was happening. I was following that one group around. And so that's what I did. I reported on them. … I do think that there is a difference between a protester and a journalist.”
The day after the protest, there was a large backlash against Lemon’s coverage online, including from Nicki Minaj, who used a homophobic slur against him. Donald Trump reshared a post calling for Lemon’s arrest, while deputy attorney general Todd Blanche and attorney general Pam Bondi also discussed the possibility of charges against him. With all the talk circulating about him being potentially arrested, Lemon retained an attorney, who reached out to prosecutors to make the process as smooth as possible.
“The attorney reached out to them and said, basically, ‘I understand that you have an interest because your folks have been talking about it, and so if you are serious about this, then let's do it the right way,’” he explained. “I mean Donald Trump was allowed the courtesy to turn himself in. … I was here to cover the Grammys.”
He said he attended an event, but when he returned to his hotel, he was placed in handcuffs by federal agents after getting in an elevator.
“It had to be maybe a dozen people, which is a waste of resources because I told them weeks before, maybe once or twice … that I could just go in and it would have to be the folks who were just working there that day and they wouldn't have to have all these people following me around,” he said. “They want to embarrass you. They want to intimidate you. They want to instill fear. And so that's why they did it that way.”
Lemon also revealed that while he was being held by authorities, he wasn’t offered his one phone call.
Despite the stress of the experience, Lemon said that it’s been affirming to see the support from the public.
“This is an important time. This is not time for folly,” said Lemon. “It's not time for false equivalence and putting people on television and on news programs, giving them a platform, who come on just to lie. I think people are sick of that. Some things are objectively bad, Jimmy.”
Watch the full interview up top.
