By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed August 2, 2011
On his late-night comedy show, Jon Stewart (or one of his writers) last week noticed Atlanta-based CNN weekend anchor Don Lemon making a mockery of a story he had to report about Harry Potter. Specifically, the Economics Society at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania had created faux estimates of how much it would cost to attend the fictional Hogwarts School in the Potter books and films.
After one of his colleagues noted the "cost," Lemon uttered, "Okay. I say it costs zero because it doesn't exist."
"There you go," the reporter responded.
Lemon laughed. "I could have done the calculation for you right at the top. It is interesting though."
"You see that?" Stewart noted. "His half-hearted last-minute effort to feign that he cares at all what that woman says? That's not just casual anchor banter my friends, that's a call for help as we explore in our new segment, 'CNN anchor Don Lemon appears not to care for CNN.' "
"CNN I'm concerned," Stewart continued."It appears your anchor Don Lemon may not care for the antics of your network, CNN."
He showed some examples of Lemon being annoyed by silliness that happens at his network. Stewart then created some fake titles for Lemon's show such as "Lemon's Zesty News Bowl" or "Lemon Harangue."
Lemon, in an interview today, said he was watching the show live with a friend last week when the segment came on. He was afraid he'd be eviscerated so he left the room. His friend encouraged him to watch it and after a couple of beers to steel himself, he did. In the end, Lemon said he realized it was actually flattering.
"I was really just worried that my co-workers looked bad," he said. But they were supportive of him the next day and he heard nothing from the bosses. "They realize it's satire," he said.
Lemon said while many anchors will grin and bear the silly stuff, he said he can't help but express his sarcastic wit. "People are drawn to personalities who are not robots," he said.
Then the next day, Lemon got another hit from "The Colbert Report." In this case, Lemon played along and even got a book plug out of it:
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By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
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