Don Lemon Allegedly Demanded A Cybertruck & Ride To Space From Elon Musk Before X Deal Crashed

Don Lemon's partnership deal with Elon Musk's X platform reportedly fell through because of some outlandish demands. According to a source familiar with the contract, Lemon wanted more than just a partnership with the social media platform, as he wanted to have a say in the type of news that appears on X.

He also allegedly demanded that Musk send him to space to record a podcast from there, a free Tesla Cybertruck, and a $5 million upfront payment to bring his show to the platform.

The fired CNN anchor had taken to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that Musk had canceled his deal after the billionaire went back on his "free speech" pledge to him, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

According to the Daily Mail, a source with knowledge about the deal disclosed that Lemon was the one who wanted censorship on the platform and also made some very outlandish demands from the company.

The source said, "If you look through Don's asks, they fluctuate between the luxurious to the far-out to censorship. Luxurious is you're asking for a splashy new car [the Tesla Cybertruck], and you're asking for a $5 million up-front payment."

"Far-out is one of his demands was to be the first podcast in space," the source added.

Lemon also allegedly demanded that X commit to a $10 million annual marketing budget and cover the cost of his studio build-out.

Paperwork obtained by the news outlet showed that the newscaster also wanted a say in the nature and type of news content the platform shares and the talents X brings on board.

The contract stated that Lemon must be consulted by X "when making decisions relating to News content on the platform/any policy changes re: content" and that he receives a "percent of budget upon X's future spend on original content."

It also reportedly stated that Lemon is to "approve any other news/current events talent deals/partnerships in the first year on X."

"Where it flips to censorship is Don wanted control and input on every creator that was coming to the platform," the insider shared. "He wanted a voice into what type of news information would be on the platform."

"Separately, he wanted to make decisions about the policies of the platform," they continued.

The source explained, "So, they've got these demands, and they're working through them, but nothing's been signed. Then he sits down with Elon, and Elon's like, 'I see where you're going, and I don't like it.'"

Musk sat down with the former cable news host for the first interview episode of his self-named show, which was originally scheduled to air on X and YouTube on March 18.

Excerpts from the intense sit-down showed Lemon quizzing Musk on his ketamine prescription, censorship on X, and his meeting with Donald Trump, which sparked speculations that Musk was readying to donate to the ex-president's re-election bid.

Lemon also brought up the issue of the company's refusal to remove content he described as "hate speech" and criticized Musk for not using "better content moderation."

Musk replied that X deletes anything illegal but never goes further than the letter of the law. He told Lemon, "Moderation is a propaganda word for censorship."

Frustrated, the Tesla boss went on, "You desperately want censorship. You want censorship so badly, you can taste it."

The source told the Daily Mail that Musk seemingly pulled the rug "based on the demands and based on this interview and on how it all feels," adding that they were "no longer going to stand in a conversation with Don."

Musk fired Lemon hours after the interview, calling him "dull" and "underwhelming."

When details about the contract were unknown, Lemon threatened to sue the Tesla boss over his canceled X partnership.

According to Semafor, the question of whether he would receive financial incentives for his brief stint on the platform arose, with his representative claiming that he had a deal with X and "expects to be paid for it."

"If we have to go to court, we will," Lemon's spokesperson, Allison Gollust, reportedly said.

Musk has since taken to X to note that Lemon still has the freedom to post his show on the platform and will also get advertising revenue.

The SpaceX founder wrote: "Even though I think Don [lemon emoji] is a pompous fool who spouts nonsense, he is still free to upload his show to [X] and will receive advertising revenue."