A Conversation with American Television Journalist and CNN Host
Don Lemon, the award-winning, outspoken co-anchor of CNN This Morning, will discuss his experiences as a Black, gay man ascending the ranks of the broadcasting industry on February 7 at 2 p.m. in the Farmingdale State College Campus Center Ballroom.
His appearance is sponsored by the Office of Student Activities, the Student Government Association, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in celebration of Black History Month.
One of the top broadcasters in the nation, FSC students can connect with Lemon on multiple levels, said Eunice Ro, Director of Student Activities and Campus Center. “We’re excited for Don Lemon’s visit to campus to speak about his hard-fought rise in television news. Our students can relate to his life experiences and the many issues covered in his news stories.”
Lemon’s accomplishments have been recognized within the industry and beyond. He won an Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers in 2002 and received three Emmy Awards for local news coverage while working in Chicago. In 2009, Ebony named him one of the “Ebony Power 150: The Most Influential Blacks in America.”
Since joining CNN in September 2006, Lemon has had multiple assignments and has not hesitated to challenge guests or criticize public figures. He has been a co-anchor with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins on CNN This Morning since November 2022. For more than eight years, he was the prime-time anchor of CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight.
During his career at CNN, Lemon has anchored coverage and reported-on-the-scene as some of the nation and world’s biggest stories were breaking, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, the bombing at the Boston Marathon in 2013, the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando, Florida; the shooting at a Bible study group at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, that left nine Black church members dead; and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Lemon co-hosted CNN’s Color of COVID special that examined the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on communities of color. He also navigated viewers through the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in 2020 and the subsequent months of protests that rocked the country.
In 2021, Lemon published his second book, “This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism,” which topped The New York Times best-seller list. In the book, Lemon reflects on his own family history and experiences in the context of the racist attitudes and events of the times and begs Americans to find a way to finally eradicate racism.
A Louisiana native, Lemon began his career at WNYW in New York City as a news assistant while still a student at Brooklyn College, where he now is an adjunct professor, teaching courses related to new media.
This event is open to all students and employees of Farmingdale State College, with limited seating available to the greater community.
For more information, email the Office for Marketing & Communications or call 934-420-2400.
