Just a month into his new gig as morning show host, CNN’s Don Lemon is already sparking controversy.
During Thursday morning’s broadcast of CNN This Morning, Lemon adamantly argued that the U.S. men’s national soccer team should get paid more than the women’s team despite their lack of comparative success, telling his female co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins that the men are simply “more interesting to watch.”
Needless to say, the conversation became increasingly uncomfortable as Collins and Harlow pushed back on Lemon—who insisted that he wasn’t being “sexist.”
Due to a new collective bargaining agreement between the United States Soccer Federation and the men’s and women’s unions, the women’s national team will make at least three times as much from this year’s men’s World Cup as they did for winning the 2019 women’s World Cup. That’s because the men, who advanced to the round of 16 with a win over Iran, are guaranteed at least $13 million in prize money.
Explaining the disparity in prize money for the two tournaments and the agreement to share earnings between the men’s and women’s teams, CNN data reporter Harry Enten also noted that the U.S. women’s team has been far more successful on the international stage than the men.
“The women’s World Cup titles—they have won four since 1991. The men’s World Cup titles? They have won zero since 1930,” Enten said. “So yes, the men’s tournament brings in more money, but when it comes to the U.S., I make the argument the women’s team is far more responsible for the boost in popularity in soccer.”
Lemon, however, immediately jumped in to “make the exact opposite argument,” acknowledging that “everyone is going to hate” him for what he was about to say.
“But the men’s team makes more money. If they make more money, then they should get more money,” the veteran CNN host stated. “The men’s team makes more money because people are more interested in the men!”
Cutting him off, Harlow replied she “has a big issue with this” before pointing out that the WNBA suffers from the same issue.
“There’s also more interest in the NBA,” Lemon interrupted.
“Hold on. Hold on! Until big media companies, Big Tech companies, advertisers, invest and put them on their airwaves more and allow people to see it more and gain more fans,” Harlow shot back as Lemon tried once more to interrupt. “Then you will push towards more equality. But if they are blocked in so many ways and not invested in as much, they don’t even have a chance.”
Lemon, meanwhile, asserted that he’s “not sexist” because he grew up in a “family of all women” before resuming his argument that the men’s soccer team was superior to their female counterparts.
