In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, New York, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named him one of the Pride50 'trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people'. In 2017, Out named him on its Power 50 list of 'the most influential LGBTQ people in the USA.' In December 2016, Lemon was honored with a Native Son Award, named after James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son (1955), recognizing and to 'encourage the increased visibility and impact of black gay men in society'. In 2014, David Uberti of the Columbia Journalism Review named him in a list of worst journalism of the year for several reporting gaffes throughout the year. In 2014, Advocate listed Lemon as one of the publication's 50 Most Influential LGBTQ People in Media. Lemon was voted as one of the 150 most influential African Americans by Ebony magazine in 2009.

In 2006, he earned three Chicago / Midwest Emmy AwardsвЂ“one for a business feature about Craigslist real estate listings, 'Life on Craigslist,' and two for reporting on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, 'Journey to Africa' вЂ“while reporting for WMAQ-TV in Chicago. area sniper, and other awards for reports on Hurricane Katrina. Murrow Award for his coverage of the capture of the D.C. Lemon at Redlight Traffic's inaugural Dignity Gala in October 2013 The next morning, Lemon apologized for 'setting fire to' the internet and tweeted that his show would be renamed Don Lemon Tonight, beginning the following Monday. So I appreciate all the years of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, but changes are coming, and I will fill you in'. This is the last night that we'll be CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. The following night, on May 14, 2021, at the end of that edition of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, the host announced: 'So, earlier I told you I had an announcement, and I do. The audio show will center around 'politics and personal' and will be teleprompter-free. In May 2021, it was announced that Lemon, along with CNN fellow journalist Chris Cuomo, would launch a podcast named ' The Handoff'. In October 2018, during an on-air discussion about the migrant caravan, Lemon received criticism from conservatives for stating 'we have to stop demonizing people and realize that the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them. The president of the United States is racist.' His outspoken criticism of the Trump administration and accusations of racism against President Trump have made Lemon a target of Trump.

In a much-reported broadcast in January 2018, Lemon introduced his broadcast with, 'This is CNN Tonight, I'm Don Lemon. Since 2014, he has also co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special from New Orleans with Brooke Baldwin. He has also voiced strong opinions on ways that the African American community can improve their lives, which has caused some controversy. He has been outspoken in his work at CNN, criticizing the state of cable news and questioning the network publicly. He won three Emmys for local reporting while at WMAQ.

In 2003, he began working at NBC owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV (5 in Chicago) and was a reporter and local news co-anchor. Lemon reported for NBC News's New York City operations, including working as a correspondent for both Today, and NBC Nightly News and as an anchor on Weekend Today and programs on MSNBC. Also, he was an anchor and investigative reporter for KTVI in St. CareerД®arly in his career, Lemon reported as a weekend news anchor for WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama and for WCAU in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Louis and Chicago for several years, and was a correspondent for NBC affiliates in Philadelphia and Chicago. While at Brooklyn College, he interned at WNYW. Lemon attended Louisiana State University and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1996, majoring in broadcast journalism. Lemon was voted class president during his senior year. He attended Baker High School, a public high school in the town of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish. He is of mostly African-American ancestry, along with Creole his maternal grandmother was the daughter of a black mother and a white father, who had French and Scots-Irish ancestry. Lemon was born under the surname of his mother's then-husband, and discovered that Wilmon was his father when he was five. His father was a prominent attorney, who was part of a lawsuit successfully challenging segregation of public transportation in Baton Rouge. Don Lemon was born March 1, 1966, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Katherine Marie (Bouligney) and Wilmon Lee Richardson.

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