Don Lemon

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

News, Politics

4.8 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2021

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In which John Heilemann talks with Don Lemon, host of CNN Tonight and author of the new book, “This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism." Heilemann and Lemon, who opens his book with a letter to his nephew describing his emotional response to George Floyd's murder, discuss his reaction to the Derek Chauvin trial and the spate of police shootings during and after the proceedings; Lemon's place in the media landscape as the only Black male anchor in primetime cable news; his childhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the challenges he faced as he rose in the news business due to being both Black and gay; how Lemon sees the role of journalists at a time when democratic institutions are under threat; and his famously contentious relationship with Donald Trump. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, John Hyalman here and welcome to Hell in High Water.
0:17.6	My podcast on the recount and I heart radio with big ups to the one and only Rizza for our
0:21.7	dope theme music.
0:23.2	No story in the news this spring loomed larger in the public consciousness than the trial
0:27.5	Derek Shovon, Minneapolis police officer charged with second degree murder, third degree
0:32.4	murder and second degree manslaughter for the killing of George Floyd a year ago.
0:37.1	As the trial unfolded it often felt as if the whole world was watching and when the jury
0:41.4	began its deliberations on April 19th it felt as if the whole world was holding its breath,
0:46.6	hoping, praying, the justice would be done, infearing what might happen if it wasn't.
0:52.0	Thankfully the wait was short just one day and the outcome was righteous.
0:55.6	Shovon was found guilty on all three counts.
0:58.5	When the verdicts were read out by the judge I heaved a huge saw-ever-leaf and then thought
1:03.2	about the interview that we had scheduled for this episode of the podcast since our guest
1:07.3	had just published a book that begins with a moving meditation on George Floyd's death
1:12.3	and goes on from there to address the deep and wide and bexing issues that his murder
1:17.0	forced the country to confront.
1:19.0	The book is entitled This is the Fire, What I Say to My Friends About Racism and its
1:24.1	author is my friend Don Lemon.
1:25.9	The state of our union is good but getting better, somewhat uncertain but I think we're
1:33.4	on the right path to a more perfect union.
1:39.8	Don Lemon is of course one of the most familiar faces on television, the host of CNN Tonight
1:43.8	with Don Lemon.
	...

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