CNN’s Don Lemon issued an apology Thursday after he received backlash for a comment about a woman’s “prime” years.
During Wednesday’s speech launching her presidential campaign, former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley called for mandatory mental acuity tests for elected officials over the age of 75. Haley is 51.
Lemon said on “CNN This Morning” Thursday that her proposal made him “uncomfortable.”
“I think it’s the wrong road to go down,” Lemon said. “She says people, you know, politicians are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime [is] in [her] 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
Lemon’s comment immediately made headlines, and Haley herself tweeted that “it’s always the liberals who are most sexist.”
Lemon apologized shortly after. (RELATED: Watch The Awkward Moment After MSNBC Host Suggests John Bolton Is Sexist)
“The reference I made to a woman’s ‘prime’ this morning was in artful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it,” Lemon tweeted just after 1:30 p.m. “A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.”
The reference I made to a woman’s “prime” this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) February 16, 2023
During the CNN segment, co-host Poppy Harlow pushed back, asking Lemon if he was referring to a woman’s childbearing years. Lemon claimed to be citing objective “facts” about the duration of a woman’s “prime” and urged audience members to look it up online.