Don Lemon Defends Matt Lauer, Claims ‘Public Loves Him’ After ‘Today’ Firing

Don Lemon thinks Matt Lauer could make a big comeback.

The former CNN anchor, 58, opened up about his relationship with the controversial journalist, 67, and why he believed the public would welcome Lauer with open arms if he were to return to television on the latest episode of the Hollywood Raw podcast.

In November 2017, NBC fired Lauer from Today  after a former employee, who was later identified as Brooke Nevils, claimed he sexually harassed her. Shortly after, several women also came forward with similar accusations.

Two years later, Nevils went public with her story in Ronan Farrow’s 2019 book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, and alleged that Lauer raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Lauer has maintained all of his encounters were consensual, and that  the allegations were “categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense.”

On the podcast, Lemon said Lauer could return to media and “set his own course” on a digital platform and added that viewers were ready to see the journalist back on their screens.

“I only got to know Matt after, you know, the whole situation happened and because we live in the same town and we have mutual friends,” Lemon explained. “Whenever I see Matt out and about, or, you know, even with us, if we go out to dinner, my husband and I will go out to dinner with him and his fiancé. And people love him.”

“Women love him. They’re like, ‘Matt, oh my God, can I get a picture? I love you. I miss you on television,’” he added. “And so I think the public loves him.”

Lemon claimed that the “public misses him” but the “people inside the business” might be “afraid” of the backlash they may face if they were to hire him back.

“Maybe in this whole Trump era when, you know, [being] canceled is over, I don’t know.” he continued. “Maybe there is a way that he’ll come back. But I think it’s more of the people who are inside of the business who are concerned about what happened with Matt.”

Though the two connected after his firing, Lemon and Lauer have been public about their friendship. In April 2024, Lauer and his girlfriend Shamin Abas attended Lemon and his longtime partner Tim Malone‘s wedding in New York City.

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In November 2024, a friend of Lauer’s told PEOPLE that the journalist had reconnected with his old friends and found himself in “a really good place” with his kids Jack, 23, Romy, 21, and Thijs, 17, and his ex-wife Annette Roque since choosing to live a “quiet” life in the Hamptons.

“He’s actually doing well and happy,” the friend said. “He doesn’t work and he doesn’t have to. He’s not looking to. He was a journalist at heart and he did some impactful political interviews that spanned his career, but the current cycle of politics isn’t anything even people who have been doing it for a long time are really excited to cover.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.