Don Lemon is heading back to TV on his own terms with new FAST Channel venture

The journalist, who has seen a massive jolt of followers and reach through his YouTube show, is launching The Don Lemon Channel.

Don Lemon has been in a season of growth.

Already expanding his reach through his reporting on YouTube, Instagram and other platforms, the former CNN anchor is set to launch The Don Lemon Channel in partnership with Swerve TV. Lemon’s new channel will be a free, ad-supproted streaming outlet that will be available not only on streaming platforms but linear ones as well.

As part of The Don Lemon Channel, two daily live programs will air on the channel along with every day news drops, archival shows and shows from the channel’s partners, including “The Monique Pressley Show,” “Josh the Provessive,” and shows by former Capitol police officer Michael Fanone and Dr. Frita.

Lemon has emerged as one of the more viable voices in Black media since leaving CNN in 2023. While many journalists and pundits who have been laid off or fired from national jobs have moved on to Substack, newsletters and other creator-driven platforms, Lemon has utilized various media properties to showcase a variation of “creator media.” On YouTube, he has more than 1.4 million followers and tens of millions on Instagram.

“We built this network on the idea that people want the truth delivered straight without a corporate boss deciding what makes air,” Lemon said in a statement. “Almost eleven million followers later, they are still asking for more. So, we are giving them more. More hours, more voices, and now a channel on their televisions. That is what America is demanding. We go where the audience is.”

As Lemon’s profile has risen on social media, it also became the touchpoint for his current battle with the federal government. In January, Lemon was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate federal laws that protect religious expression after filiming a protest inside of a church in St. Paul, Minnesota. One of the pastors for the church, according to proterstors, was a member of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Recently, the case gained wider scrutinity where prosecutors for the Justice Department refused to acknowledge whether they legally obtained Lemon’s phone records. Lemon’s attorneys have argued that the Department of Homeland Security does not have legal authority in his case as nearly all of the defendants, including Nekima Levy-Armstrong, argued that the cast itself should be thrown out.

“The Government acted beyond the authority Congress conferred on it, repeatedly invoked a purpose-limited customs summons to obtain evidence in an unrelated domestic criminal investigation, and continued doing so throughout an active prosecution,” his lawyer’s wrote in a brief regarding the government’s alleged actions. “The scale, duration, and deliberate use of that compulsory power are central to whether the Government’s conduct crossed the constitutional boundary into outrageous Government conduct.”