Vera Wang, 73, DEFENDS her ‘good friend’ Don Lemon

Famous fashion designer Vera Wang has spoken out in support of her ‘good friend’ Don Lemon after he was unceremoniously dismissed from his job at CNN after 17 year following a slew of on-air and behind-the-scenes controversies.

But despite accusations of sexism and misogyny levelled at the controversial anchor 73-year-old Wang has come out swinging for Lemon, 57, insisting that he is a ‘good journalist’ who is having a particularly ‘difficult’ time. 

‘I’m very sad, he’s a very good friend of mine,’ Wang confided at the Champions in Life Anniversary Gala at Gotham Hall in New York on Monday night. 

She went on: ‘I feel so badly because he’s a very good journalist and I think this is a difficult time right now for Don.’ 

Lemon, 57, was fired by CNN on Monday after facing repeated accusations of sexism and misogyny during his time on air  

Interestingly, one of the biggest scandals to blight Lemon’s on-air career of late saw him slammed for sexism after he claimed that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, ‘is past her prime’. 

But while Wang is 22 years older than Haley, she did not hesitate to position herself in his corner, saying of his comments about the politician: ‘You know what, I didn’t hear that. I [have] just known him for a long long time.’ 

Lemon’s shocking comment about Haley was made during an episode of CNN This Morning, the show that he hosted alongside female co-anchors Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. 

At the time, the trio was discussing Haley’s own suggestion that politicians aged 75 and over should face mental competency tests – with Lemon quickly railing against the Republican for her stance, insisting that women her age should tread carefully when it comes to those kinds of controversial opinions. 

‘A woman is in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,’ he told his stunned co-hosts, before doubling down and telling them to ‘Google it’. 

‘That’s not according to me – if you look it up, if you Google, “What is a woman in her prime?” it’ll say 20s, 30s, 40s,’ he went on. 

‘I’m not saying I agree with that. So, I think she [Nikki Haley] has to be careful about saying that, you know, politicians are in their prime.’

Are you talking about prime for, like, childbearing? Or are you talking about prime for being president?’ Harlow asked. 

Lemon waves goodbye at the end of CNN This Morning on Monday – a moment that would prove to be his final appearance as a CNN anchor after 17 years with the network

‘I feel so badly because he’s a very good journalist and I think these are difficult time right now for Don’  

‘Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are,’ Lemon sniffed.

‘Google it. Everybody at home, when is a woman in her prime? It says 20s, 30s and 40s.

‘I’m just saying Nikki Haley should be careful about saying that politics are not in their prime, and they need to be in their prime when they serve. She would not be in her prime according to Google or whatever it is.’

The backlash against Lemon was swift – with Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh even appearing to take a swipe at the on-air anchor during her Best Actress acceptance speech at this year’s awards.  

‘This is proof that dreams, dream big, and dreams do come true,’ Yeoh said while collecting her Oscar. ‘And ladies, don’t ever let anyone tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up!’ 

Lemon’s comments about Haley may well have reached the lofty heights of Oscars mockery, but they were far from the only scandalous gaffe to have cast a shadow over his career at CNN. 

Don Lemon was fired by CNN on Monday. His combative interview on April 19 with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was said to be a factor in his firing

Don Lemon tweeted out his outrage that he had been fired from CNN on Monday afternoon

CNN was quick to fire back, insisting that its executives made every effort to meet with Don’s management but that he had chosen to announce the news on Twitter instead 

In September last year, the anchor sparked fury yet again when he asked Republican panelist SE Cupp, 43, if she was suffering from ‘mommy brain’ after losing her train of thought.

Back in 2014, he also questioned a woman who claimed she had been raped by Bill Cosby at the age of 19 why she didn’t bite him in order to defend herself against the alleged attack. 

He then faced a bitter backlash in 2019 when he compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler before lashing out at his supporters two years later for being on ‘the side of the [Klu Klux] Klan’ and the ‘Nazis’. 

‘If you are on that side, you need to think about the side you’re on,’ he said while discussing the January 6 riots at the Capitol. 

‘I am never on the side of the Klan. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Klan side. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Nazi side. 

‘Principled people who are conservative or liberal, never on the side that treats their fellow Americans as less than, that says your fellow Americans should not exist … that sides with slavery.’