Don Lemon did not laugh at Maxine Waters. The video in question used a clip from 2018, while Lemon was fired from CNN in 2023.
The post included a voice-over that was not from a CNN producer but rather from the account @stevenvoiceover, commenting on the situation.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., appeared on “CNN NewsNight” on July 9 to discuss President Joe Biden’s candidacy. As anchor Abby Phillip questioned her about the Democratic strategy to defeat former President Donald Trump, Waters adjusted her hair for about 20 seconds before responding, “I think we need to keep working and work harder.”
A video posted on Instagram on July 10 combined that moment with another from several years ago involving a different CNN anchor. The Instagram video made it seem as though former CNN anchor Don Lemon was conducting the interview and laughing while Waters adjusted her wig. The video included a voiceover asking, “What’s Don laughing at?” and “Can we get hair and makeup in for Maxine’s wig, please?”
Additionally, text in the video claimed, “BREAKING: CNN producer caught on hot mic dealing with Maxine Water’s wig problem.”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. The voice was not that of a CNN producer, but commentary from the account @stevenvoiceover.
The Lemon clip was from a February 2018 episode of “Don Lemon Tonight.” In this clip, Lemon was laughing after political commentator Symone Sanders-Townsend made a remark about Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former Trump administration staffer.
Sanders-Townsend had joked, “Don. It’s Black History Month, we gotta talk about Omarosa? Carter G. Woodson did not go to the mat to get Negro History Week that eventually turned into Black History Month for us to talk about Omarosa and her apology tour and her attempt to salvage her reputation on a reality television show.”
This left Lemon laughing for an extended period before he regained his composure.
Newman, a former “The Apprentice” contestant, was fired in 2017 from the Trump administration. She later mentioned on “Celebrity Big Brother” that she was “haunted” by Trump’s tweets every day.
We rate the claim that a CNN producer was caught on a hot mic about Waters’ recent interview as False.