Last year, CNN’s weekend anchor Don Lemon revealed how he was molested as a child, a topic he expounds on in his new memoir “Transparent,” out June 6th. From the book description:
Through compelling narrative, Lemon digs deep to expose his painful past, and explains how those early experiences shaped the man he is today, as one of the most prominent African American men in television news.
But in a new interview with the New York Times, he tells the paper about he comes out in the book. “I abhor hypocrisy,” Lemon told the Times. “I think if you’re going to be in the business of news, and telling people the truth, of trying to shed light in dark places, then you’ve got to be honest. You’ve got to have the same rules for yourself as you do for everyone else. I think it would be great if everybody could be out. But it’s such a personal choice. People have to do it at their own speed. I respect that. I do have to say that the more people who come out, the better it is for everyone, certainly for the Tyler Clementis of the world.”
Reading that, you can’t help but think Lemon’s making a dig at his coworker Anderson Cooper, who has long-rumored to be a homosexual but uncomfortable with coming out of the closet. In fact, just this month, Out magazine named Cooper No. 2 in their annual Power 50 list honoring extraordinary gays and lesbians, and “a few who’ve yet to publicly declare they’re gay.”
Even Rachel Maddow got into some hot water last month for possibly hinting that Cooper should come out. When she was asked by the Guardian if she feels “frustration towards an equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out,” Maddow responded: “I’m sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I do think that if you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out.”
Later on her blog, Maddow corrected the interview by writing: “In that interview, I wasn’t asked about Anderson Cooper, I didn’t say anything about him, he literally was never discussed during the interview at all — even implicitly,” she wrote. “I did not in my interview with the Guardian say anything about or to Mr. Cooper, nor would I. Although criticism of Mr. Cooper was intimated by the Guardian and picked up everywhere — I did not make that criticism in the interview, nor did I imply it, nor is it what I believe.”
