Don Lemon Gets Snubbed as Kanye West Walks Away Mid-Interview at Grammys

Kanye West is not happy with former CNN staple, Don Lemon. The rapper, also known as Ye, claims Lemon “started the rumor” that he and his wife, Bianca Censori, were kicked out of the Grammys 2025 for her revealing look. Censori walked the red carpet with a Black fur coat before taking it off to reveal…well nothing but a sheer cover over her nude body. “This the goofball that started the rumor that me and my wife got kicked out the Grammies [sic],” Ye captioned a photo via Instagram of Lemon smiling Monday. “3 decades of innovating music and they always KOONS like this,” Ye said. 

The Jim Crow Museum defines the term coon, an abbreviation of raccoon, as a dehumanizing caricature. Historically, a coon was portrayed as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon who acted childish, but he was an adult; and behaved as a good servant to his white counterpart/superior. 

Lemon snapped back, taking to social media saying, “First of all, Kanye … Ye, whatever your name is. I did not start a rumor about you being kicked out of the Grammys. I actually corrected it. I saw someone on your team who asked me to correct it because it had been reported everywhere,” he said in a video posted on Instagram on Feb. 3. “Get your s–t straight. You, of all people, calling me a coon? … That ‘Make America Great Again’ hat must be too tight on your head,” he added referring to Ye’s support of President Donald Trump.

Lemon interviewed Ye on the red carpet. “Kanye, when is ‘Bully’ gonna come out?” the he asked, referring to West’s forthcoming album. “Ye,” the rapper replied. “I changed my name to Ye. Soon, this year, though.”

In a second video, Lemon tried asking him another question but was snubbed. “Kanye, the number one artist you want to put on right now?” Lemon asked. Ye responded: “Give me a second. I’m focused.”