Don Lemon and Wendy Williams Are Ready to 'Shake The Table' With TV Comebacks

After being fired from their respectable legacy TV gigs, word on the street is that Wendy Williams and Don Lemon are both planning a TV comeback.

via: Radar Online

Lemon, 59, has been off television since being fired by CNN after his controversial on-air comments about former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being past her prime.

Williams, 60, retired from broadcasting after being diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, and has spent the last three years living under a legal guardianship that oversees both her finances and health.

According to Hollywood insider Rob Shuter, who writes on Substack, the pair are ready to reclaim their careers.

"They are great friends," an insider said. "They are serious about teaming up for a new project. Don and Wendy both have big personalities and love the idea of shaking things up on TV again."

Industry sources say a team-up would lead to a new talk program, with a combination of the hard-hitting interviews Lemon is known for and hot topics and energy only Williams can bring.

The two are said to be brainstorming ideas now and finalizing a concept to shop to networks.

Last month, they were spotted having dinner together at Il Cantanori in New York City. Lemon later talked about the evening on his eponymous YouTube show.

He called his dinner date a "foodie" and added: "Wendy was like, 'I'm gonna eat everything, Don, because the food where I am (living) is awful!'"

Lemon was abruptly fired from CNN on April 2023 after 17 years with the network, following controversial comments, tense interviews, and reports that the host's own colleagues had privately expressed concerns about his behavior.

Since being fired, Lemon has gone on to host his own news program on various social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter.

Meanwhile, Williams recently sparked a "high-stakes bidding war" for her first major on-camera sit-down interview since she was put under her legal guardianship.

She has launched a legal fight for her freedom, claiming she does not suffer from cognitive issues while demanding her court-ordered conservatorship be lifted.

However, a judge recently delivered a devastating blow to the former talk show host at a recent hearing regarding her conservatorship case.

Judge Lisa Sokoloff did not attempt to hide her frustrations over Williams' repeated cries to end her guardianship – and proceeded to trash the TV personality's family and claim her career was over.

The judge further claimed Williams' family had been a negative influence on her.

According to an insider at the trial, Sokoloff told Williams she had a "great career" before adding that it was now "done" and she'd never work in Hollywood again.

This isn’t the first time Lemon and Williams have tried to join forces. When Williams was unable to host her talk show due to health issues, she lobbied for Lemon to fill in for her. But CNN, where Lemon was a primetime anchor at the time, said no.

One former network executive told Shuter: "It wasn’t a good look for a news organization to have Don host a gossip-heavy talk show. Now, with Lemon no longer tied to CNN after his highly publicized firing, there’s no stopping him.

"Don has nothing to lose at this point, and Wendy is egging him on every step of the way."

*****

I love you Rob, but I don't know if I believe this story. For one Wendy needs to figure out how she is going to slither her way out of this guardianship before she can even think about getting back on TV.

As for Don, his show is doing pretty well on YouTube, a place where you can say what you want to say without a bunch of legacy media overlords controlling what you can inform the audience about politically.

So with his $25 million payout after he was fired before his contract with CNN was done, why would you go back to playing in the legacy media sandbox when there's so much more freedom in being independent.