Don Lemon Quits X, Citing Elon Musk’s Change to Move Legal Disputes to Texas Courts

Don Lemon, a one-time business partner of Elon Musk who’s now suing the tech mogul, is done with X.

The journalist and former CNN anchor announced that he’s leaving X before Nov. 15 — when a change in X’s terms of service will require all disputes with the company to be moved to courts in Texas. In August, Lemon sued Musk and X (formerly known as Twitter) in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco, alleging Musk and his social media company of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness, and breach of express contract.

“I’ve loved connecting with all of you on X, but it’s time for me to leave the platform,” Lemon wrote in a post on X Wednesday. “I once believed it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose.”

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Lemon noted that beginning Friday, Nov. 15, X is implementing new terms of service, which among other things states that “All disputes… be brought exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas.”

“As the Washington Post recently reported on X’s decision to change the terms, this ‘ensures that such lawsuits will be heard in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics,'” Lemon wrote. “I think that speaks for itself.”

Lemon directed followers to his accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky, adding, “I hope you will join me there.”

On Tuesday, Donald Trump tapped Musk — a major Trump donor who used X to actively promote his campaign — along with conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” advisory group to recommend ways to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” The acronym DOGE is a reference to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency; Musk is a well-documented fan of the Doge meme and he has promoted Dogecoin (originally started as a joke to mock other cryptocurrencies) to his followers.

In January of this year, Lemon entered into a content partnership deal with Musk and X to host an interview show available exclusively on the X platform and create other original content. But it quickly soured: Musk ended the partnership in March 2024, via a text to Lemon’s agent with the words “contract is canceled,” according to the journalist’s lawyers.

Lemon’s lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages. According to the suit, Musk and X agreed to pay Lemon $1.5 million with additional ad revenue-sharing terms and other incentives. Lemon did not have a signed contract with X, but he was assured by Musk that there was “no need for a formal written agreement or to ‘fill out paperwork,’” according the lawsuit.

In response to Lemon’s lawsuit, Musk said he axed the content partnership because Lemon “made a series of impressively insane demands. We declined. Therefore, there was no deal,” Musk wrote on X in August. Musk didn’t detail what Lemon’s alleged “insane demands” were.

According to Lemon, Musk backed out of the content deal just a few hours after Lemon sat with the world’s richest person for a contentious interview for his new X show. Lemon commented in a video released at the time, “apparently, free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.”