CNN anchor Don Lemon apologized for comments he made Thursday morning that suggested former UN ambassador and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was not “in the man.”
Lemon, 56, made the comments during a discussion with co-host Poppy Harlow about Haley’s suggestion that there should be a “mandatory competency test for politicians over the age of 75.”
Lemon felt that Haley, 51, should be careful about making a candidate’s age a campaign issue.
“I’m just telling you the truth. Google it. Everyone at home, when did a woman become a man?” Lemon said. “He said 20s, 30s and 40s. And I just said Nikki Haley should be careful in saying that politicians are not in the prime, and they should be in the prime when they serve. Because she’s not going to be a prima donna according to Google or anything.
And, yes, there is video.
For the record, the average age of a US president at the time of his inauguration is 55 – or maybe even older, as the number comes from a 2011 article that preceded Donald Trump’s inauguration at age 70 and Joe Biden’s inauguration at age 78.
Lemon’s comments were condemned by people across the political spectrum, as noted by Mediaite.
Haley herself also criticized Lemon’s comments, saying it would be a blanket condemnation of “liberals.”
“Liberals can’t stand having competency tests for old politicians to make sure they can do the job,” he tweeted Thursday. “BTW, definitely the most sexist liberal.
A few hours after the segment, Lemon wrote on Twitter that his comments about women’s age were “inartful and irrelevant,” and said he regretted it.
“A woman’s age does not define her personally or professionally,” he wrote. “I have countless women in my life who prove it every day.”
Haley didn’t seem too impressed with Lemon’s mea culpa, which many on Twitter noted was not a direct apology to the former South Carolina governor.
Of course, other people have reactions too.
And NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar managed to give Lemon some slack and some shade in one tweet.
Meanwhile, as of Thursday afternoon, Haley had not condemning the various race- and gender-based attacks on him that have come from fellow conservatives.
For example, he has yet to respond to Ann Coulter’s recent comments that Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants born in South Carolina, must “return to [her] own country.”
Haley also has yet to respond to comments that Steve Cortes, a one-time Trump adviser, made Thursday to Steve Bannon that Haley reminded him of former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan with “a tan, and he wears a wig.”
HuffPost reached out to Haley to ask if she also plans to denounce the alt-right’s insults about race and gender, but she did not immediately respond.