Don Lemon’s body language in CNN return reveals he was left with ‘sour face’ when grilled on Elon Musk axing his show
Body language expert Patti Wood noticed that instead of directly answering CNN host Erin Burnett’s first question, he quickly changed the subject to thank the network for having him on.
“It’s really interesting how he starts out,” Wood told The U.S. Sun.
"He wanted to pull in the fact that he wanted to be a star again by saying, 'Thanks for having me on the show.'"
“Instead of it just being, 'you’re having me on here for this thing,' but 'Hey I have a relationship, I’ve been here before.'"
Wood also highlighted how Lemon dodging the question suggested he wanted to be careful about what he was saying.
She noted that he knew it was a big deal to be on the show and wanted to be precise with his response.
“He was asked a really direct question right off the bat and instead of answering it immediately, he says ‘Thanks for having me on the show,’” Wood said.
“He wanted a moment to pull back on that, he wanted to wait before he approached the difficult question nonverbally.
“So when you answer a question immediately and you go to something else.
“That's always a sign that he knows how big this is and he knows how important this is and he wants to be very careful.”
Wood noted that Lemon also denied Burnett’s attempt to take control of the interview when he did not directly answer her question.
“Burnett wanted to jump in and take control of the interview but he was like ‘No I’m not going to let you do that,’’ Wood said.
TONE CHANGED
However, Lemon's tone took a turn to micro-aggression when he was asked about Musk being his boss.
During the CNN interview, Lemon said, "First of all he's not my boss."
"He never was my boss, he never had any editorial control. I wanted my work to be seen by the biggest number of people who could see it."
Wood said she noticed major changes in Lemon at this moment.
"When he was asked about Musk being his boss he got very micro-aggressive and had 'explosive' delivery when saying the word boss," she said.
"He had a sour face and repeated himself multiple times to make sure it wasn’t missed."
MUSK'S DISAPPROVAL
Lemon thought his conversation went well with Musk but said, "Clearly he felt differently.”
X was due to exclusively host a new talk show from Lemon, featuring the interview with Musk, on the platform but the deal was terminated on Wednesday.
Musk scrapped the partnership hours after their sit down chat, leaving Lemon baffled with a text which read, "contract terminated."
“His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me,” Lemon said.
"This will be just the first of many episodes of The Don Lemon Show.
"While Elon goes back on his word, I will be doubling down on my commitment to free speech and I cannot wait to get started.”
Musk said on X that Lemon's approach to the interview came off as inauthentic.
"His approach was basically just 'CNN, but on social media', which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying," Musk said on X.
