“Perfection is Boring”

The Autonomous podcast with Don Lemon of CNN — on his broadcasting journey and being “cable news famous,” social media snark and dealing with criticism, coming out and faith

“I don’t pretend to be perfect,” says CNN’s Don Lemon in the Autonomous podcast. “Perfection is boring.”

You probably know Don Lemon, who has worked his way up the TV news industry to way up to the top of the ladder, now hosting CNN’s 10pmET show CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. But you don’t know him like this, as we delve in-depth into Lemon’s background, his youth, his decision to come out publicly as gay five years ago, his faith, social media and more. But of his show, and some of the criticism he’s faced, he says this, at 46:35 in the podcast:

“My show is about conversation. Conversations are uncomfortable, they’re sticky, people say the wrong things, people say very profound things, people yell at each other, and then in the end, it is what it is. That’s what my show is about, and that’s kind of what I’m about. It’s how I lead my life.”

We talk Trump and 2016, social media and where the TV industry is headed and more. Listen to the FULL podcast here, or below, more quotes from the overall interview:

[You can listen to all the Autonomous podcasts on Soundcloud, or subscribe and listen now on iTunes as well.]

Lemon was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and went to a “military-style” Catholic school [:35 in the podcast]. His first job was at McDonald’s at just 15-years-old, and his first job in the TV news business was shortly thereafter, doing any and every job around the newsroom. [4:35]

His path to CNN involved stops in Birmingham, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago and more, including working for NBC News nationally in a job that saw him traveling constantly. “I would come home after being on the road for NBC News and my doorman would ask me for my ID before he let me in the building,” he said. [19:05]

Even at CNN, it took seven years before he had a show of his own in primetime. “I have to really attribute it to Jeff Zucker who believed in me, and really fought for me,” said Lemon. [23:00]

Lemon came out in 2011 in his book Transparent. “It was a different climate. There were very few out anchor people,” says Lemon. “I did it, threw caution to the wind, and prayed, and I’m still here.” [23:50] And now? “My proudest moment is when some kid tells me that I empowered him to come out…Especially some kid who’s like ‘my dad is a strong military guy’ or ‘I come from this church family, and my parents loved you and then when you came out it made it easier, because they watched you on CNN all the time.’” Also: [25:45]

“It’s given me a sense of empowerment and autonomy that I didn’t have. I used to be afraid of someone outing me. I used to be afraid of criticism. I’m much freer now on the anchor desk. You don’t live in duality anymore. In a way it was sort of a spiritual experience that sort of made you one. I’m the same person on air that I am off air.”

While his Twitter bio describes himself as a “Twitter king,” he’s soured on the platform. “Social media’s job is to be snarky, especially Twitter,” he says. “The job is to be snarky now. I don’t know if Twitter can somehow figure out how to change that. It’s probably not the platform that it used to be. I don’t find it that interesting anymore, because it’s all about snark and criticism.” [45:20]

Someone who has mastered Twitter — Donald Trump, who Lemon has interviewed many times. “Anyone who underestimates their opponent always gets burned,” he said of Trump’s success so far. But it also was about “the power of TV.” Said Lemon: “He is reality television personified, and he’s taking that reality television show on the road.” [10:05]

We talked about endurance anchoring — anchoring for hours and hours at a time during breaking news (“It’s tougher mentally than it is physically”) [28:55], police violence in America (“I don’t think we’re listening to each other now”) [17:05], his faith (“I’ve been in church for my entire life”) [27:05] and his love of SnapChat (“I wish more people would use it, because it’s not all negative and one-upsmenship”) [35:05].

On advice for others, Lemon says “Work hard. Do whatever job someone asks.” [49:55] But also:

“For people who may not be of a majority culture: stop seeing yourself as other…Just go do it. Life isn’t fair. It’s obvious we have issues with diversity when it comes to blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women. All of those things. But let your excellence speak for itself. Then let the oldheads, as I say to people, people who have been in the business for awhile, like me fight for you. Because we are fighting for you…Just be excellent.”

Lastly, what does it mean to be “cable news famous,” as Lemon describes it? [37:10] “The really famous people all know who I am,” he says. “They’re all into the news. The people who are into the really famous people, like the people who may watch like TMZ, are like ‘who? You’re not a Kardashian.’ But the Kardashians are all like, ‘oh that’s the guy from CNN.’”

Thanks to Don Lemon for his time — please listen and give any feedback (good or bad) — especially as a review on iTunes — as we continue to shape the podcast!

Next week: Steve Kornacki of MSNBC.