Nancy Grace and Don Lemon's Feud Exposed in New Report

Don Lemon reportedly had a feud with Nancy Grace during her time at CNN. A new Variety report claims CNN colleagues were shocked when Lemon mocked her live on air. Lemon has denied all allegations in the new report, which outlines other alleged instances of misogynistic behavior from the CNN This Morning co-anchor.

Early in his career at CNN, Lemon allegedly mimicked Grace, who was then one of the biggest stars at CNN's sister network, Headline News (HLN). Grace declined to comment on the report. However, a person close to her told Variety that she "thinks he's an ass" and that Lemon was always "rude, dismissive, and really unfamiliar with the [news] content being discussed."

"That was the beginning of when you knew that Don was kind of volatile and didn't say good things about women," a witness of the Grace incident told Variety. Grace hosted her eponymous show on HLN from 2005 to 2016 and remains a controversial figure in cable news history for her coverage of major cases throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

Lemon also reportedly had a feud with another CNN star, Soledad O'Brien. He was not happy when O'Brien was picked to host CNN's Black in America documentary series in 2008. During an editorial call, he allegedly claimed O'Brien was not Black. "Don has long had a habit of saying idiotic and inaccurate things, so it sounds pretty on brand for him," O'Brien, who was not on the call, told Variety.

"Don, Soledad, and others have in the past correctly referred to her Afro-Cuban heritage as it is a unique part of her personal story," a CNN spokesperson told Variety in response to the O'Brien story. "But Don denies making any related remark in a derogatory way."

Lemon reportedly complained about Anderson Cooper getting more airtime during CNN's coverage of Michael Jackson's 2009 memorial, even though Lemon was stationed inside the Staples Center. A senior executive at CNN at the time told Variety this was a "come-to-Jesus" moment for the network. "Don was told, 'Look, you've got to address your behavior. Your performance as a reporter is great. It's your behavior that's gotta improve. It's what's going to derail you if you're not careful,'" the executive said.

Lemon denied all allegations in Variety's report. "The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip," Lemon's representative told TheWrap. "It's amazing and disappointing that Variety would be so reckless."

The report was published nearly two months after Lemon's latest controversial on-air moment. During the Feb. 16 episode of CNN This Morning, he said Nikki Haley "isn't in her prime" and that only women "in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s" could still be considered in their prime. Lemon apologized on Twitter and only missed two days of work, including one day he previously took as a vacation day.

"I sat down with Don and had a frank and meaningful conversation. He has agreed to participate in formal training, as well as continuing to listen and learn. We take this situation very seriously," CNN chief Chris Licht wrote in a memo to staff in February.