Fox News host Sean Hannity tore into his CNN rival Don Lemon after the latter claimed that his network was never actually liberal during an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late night show.
“Why can’t they just be honest?” Hannity asked “Don Lemon is a talk show host.”
On Monday, “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert asked Lemon about Licht, who was the executive producer of the CBS late-night show before being named CNN’s CEO following Jeff Zucker’s ouster earlier this year.
“I don’t think we ever were liberal,” Lemon claimed, incredibly.
“Well listen, I think what Chris is saying is that he wants Republicans – sensible Republicans, he wants us to hold people to account, but he wants people to come on and feel comfortable with coming on and talking on CNN and appearing on CNN. So if you invite someone to your house, you want to make them comfortable but also by the nature of what we do, we have to hold people to account.” Lemon continued, after being challenged with another follow-up question from Colbert.
“Well listen, I think what Chris is saying is that he wants Republicans – sensible Republicans, he wants us to hold people to account, but he wants people to come on and feel comfortable with coming on and talking on CNN and appearing on CNN. So if you invite someone to your house, you want to make them comfortable but also by the nature of what we do, we have to hold people to account.” Lemon added later on in the discussion.
Licht, who has been quite vocal about his plans to shift the company’s direction, has made some high-profile staff changes in his first few months on the job, including the departures of Brian Stelter, Jeffrey Toobin, and John Harwood.
Whether or not these changes lead to a major difference in public perception of the network remains to be seen.
[READ MORE: CNN Announces Major Layoffs]
