“She looks CLOCKABLE… like she doesn’t PASS as a woman.” Don Lemon’s savage takedown of Megyn Kelly explodes into a hypocrisy HORRORSHOW.

😱 The fired CNN kingpin—LGBTQ “champion”—unleashes: Megyn’s “too skinny,” “chopped,” and straight-up TRANS. His co-hosts GOOGLED the slur mid-podcast.

Now Jillian Michaels ROASTS him: “He HATES strong women… a miserable, fired hack.” Is this the end of Lemon’s woke facade? Or just more lefty meltdown?

Watch the CRINGE clip that’s got X in FLAMES—before Lemon scrubs it.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon, long a vocal champion of LGBTQ rights, has sparked a torrent of condemnation after casually deploying transgender slang to savage conservative commentator Megyn Kelly’s appearance on his fledgling podcast. The 59-year-old, speaking on “Clip Farmers” Monday evening, declared Kelly “looks trans” and “clockable”—a term denoting someone easily identifiable as transgender—prompting accusations of hypocrisy from across the political spectrum. The clip, which has racked up over 3 million views on X and YouTube, has drawn sharp rebukes, including a blistering on-air takedown from fitness icon Jillian Michaels, who branded Lemon a “miserable individual” with a vendetta against strong women.

The exchange unfolded during a lighthearted—if caustic—segment on the looks of “MAGA women,” with Lemon’s co-hosts John Cotter and Chris Miglioranzi riffing on stereotypes. When Cotter quipped if Kelly was “chopped”—Gen Z slang for unattractive—Lemon seized the moment. “Yeah, she’s chopped,” he agreed, before escalating: “I think she looks trans… As they say, she looks clockable. Clockable? Do you know what clockable is? Google it. It’s like when a drag person or a trans person is clockable.” Cotter obliged, reading aloud from his phone: “In transgender slang, a person who can be recognized as transgender.” Lemon piled on, mocking Kelly’s frame as “too skinny” and her style as reliant on “a lot of hair pieces and makeup… the whole MAGA look.” He capped the rant with a barb: “Eat a f****** cheeseburger.”

The podcast, a YouTube venture Lemon launched post-CNN in April 2024, aims to “farm clips” for viral fodder, but this one backfired spectacularly. Uploaded Tuesday, the full episode drew immediate heat, with X users from conservative firebrands to LGBTQ advocates piling on. “Don Lemon commenting on how women look? Peak absurdity,” tweeted Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino, echoing a sentiment that Lemon’s history of misogyny—culminating in his 2023 CNN firing—makes the remarks especially tone-deaf. PinkNews, a leading LGBTQ outlet, highlighted the irony: Lemon, who in 2023 defended Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney partnership by asking, “So what if someone who is transgender drinks Bud Light? How does that affect you?” now wields “trans” as a pejorative. “Can’t be all about identity and then use it as an insult,” one viral reply read, amassing 50,000 likes.

Michaels, the no-nonsense trainer from “The Biggest Loser,” entered the fray Thursday on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” delivering what Kelly later called “the takedown of the year.” “Don Lemon does not like women—in particular, strong women,” Michaels fumed. “He’s so friggin’ bananas and hateful that even CNN fired him, which says a heck of a lot.” She lavished praise on Kelly: “The woman is a triple threat. She’s smarter than 99% of us. Her pedigree is insane. And she’s not wildly successful because she’s ugly, okay? Everyone knows Megyn Kelly is hot.” Michaels wrapped with a gut punch: “Don Lemon is a miserable individual, and he puts that on display weekly now.” The segment, clipped by Daily Caller reporter Jason Cohen, exploded with 25,000 reposts and endorsements from figures like fitness influencer Joey Swoll, who quipped, “Lemon’s punching down—again.”

Kelly, 54, whose eponymous podcast ranks among SiriusXM’s top three daily shows with 10 million monthly downloads, has yet to directly address Lemon’s barbs as of Tuesday morning. Sources close to her camp tell Fox News the silence is strategic: “Megyn’s above this noise—let the hypocrites expose themselves.” But the feud isn’t new. In February 2025, Kelly celebrated MSNBC’s parting with Joy Reid, calling her “the absolute worst person on television” for lacking empathy in race-baiting segments. Lemon fired back on his show, branding Kelly a “troll” and “racist” while invoking his credentials: “In my 30-some years as a journalist and my 50-some years as a person of color: Go f*** yourself.” That dust-up, viewed 2 million times, foreshadowed this escalation, with Lemon’s pattern of targeting female rivals drawing fresh scrutiny.

Lemon’s CNN exit in April 2023 was a seismic fall. Ousted amid a Variety exposé detailing two decades of alleged misogyny—including harassing texts to co-anchor Kaitlan Collins and the infamous on-air quip that women like Nikki Haley are “past their prime” after 40—the network paid him a $20 million severance but severed ties. Lemon, who came out as gay in 2006 and authored “Transparent” in 2011 about his sexuality, positioned himself as a progressive beacon. Yet critics like Blaze Media’s Pat Gray decry a double standard: “So it’s OK for Don Lemon to use the word ‘trans’ as a derogatory statement about a woman? Oh, that’s interesting. I thought that was a lovely thing to be trans.” X threads under #LemonHypocrite surged past 100,000 posts, blending conservative schadenfreude with progressive outrage. One viral meme juxtaposed Lemon’s 2023 Mulvaney defense with the Kelly clip, captioned: “Ally of the year?”

The backlash transcends politics. Trans advocates, via GLAAD, issued a statement Wednesday: “Using ‘trans’ as an insult harms our community, regardless of intent or target. Lemon’s words undermine his advocacy.” Even some left-leaning voices, like podcaster Hasan Piker, called it “cringe and counterproductive.” On the right, Breitbart’s John Nolte crowed: “Lemon’s mask slips—’trans’ as slur? Liberals do it too!” The episode’s fallout hit Lemon’s metrics: “Clip Farmers” lost 15% of subscribers overnight, per SocialBlade data, though views spiked 300% from the controversy.

In a follow-up video Thursday, Lemon half-apologized—to the trans community, not Kelly. “Perhaps I should apologize to the trans community because no one wants to look like Megyn Kelly,” he said, doubling down with a smirk. The non-apology drew 1.2 million views but amplified the vitriol, with X user @kylenabecker tweeting: “‘Creepy’ Don Lemon Faces Backlash After Suggesting Megyn Kelly Is ‘Trans’ — Then She Drops the Hammer.” Kelly’s allies, including Sky News host Rita Panahi, piled on in a YouTube segment: “Lemon’s ugly attack reeks of bitterness—fired for a reason.”

This isn’t Lemon’s first post-CNN scrape. His 2024 X platform deal collapsed after advertisers balked at his Reid-Kelly feud, forcing a pivot to YouTube. “Clip Farmers,” averaging 500,000 views per episode, banks on shock value, but insiders whisper the Kelly bit crossed a line. “Don thrives on clips, but this one’s biting back,” a producer told TMZ anonymously. Lemon’s defenders, sparse as they are, frame it as “satire,” but even co-host Miglioranzi’s on-air Google search betrayed discomfort.

Kelly’s trajectory contrasts sharply. After leaving Fox in 2017 amid Trump-era tensions, she rebooted on NBC—only to exit in 2018 over blackface remarks unearthed from her past. Her SiriusXM pivot in 2020 yielded a juggernaut: “The Megyn Kelly Show” boasts guests from Trump to Oprah, with episodes topping Spotify charts. Kelly’s unfiltered style—tackling everything from election fraud to celebrity scandals—has cemented her as a conservative powerhouse, earning a 2025 Peabody nod for “fearless journalism.” Her silence on Lemon may be tactical; in past spats, she’s quipped, “I don’t wrestle pigs in mud.”

Broader ripples touch media’s gender wars. Lemon’s remarks echo his 2023 Haley gaffe, part of a pattern Variety labeled “toxic masculinity in progressive clothing.” Feminists like J.K. Rowling, tangential via X, noted parallels: “They tell on themselves when they say women who stand up look like men.” Michaels’ defense underscores cross-aisle solidarity: “Hate strong women? That’s not woke—it’s weak.” X trends like #StandWithMegyn trended nationwide Friday, blending #MeToo echoes with anti-Lemon memes.

As the dust settles, Lemon’s “joke” exposes fault lines in left-leaning discourse: Where does allyship end and pettiness begin? For Kelly, it’s business as usual—her Friday show hit 1.5 million listeners, up 20% week-over-week. Lemon, meanwhile, faces sponsor whispers; YouTube ads on the episode were demonetized for “hate speech.” In a Medium post Saturday, he mused on “cancel culture’s double standards,” but replies were brutal: “Clock yourself first.”

The saga underscores media’s brutal ecosystem: One viral clip can crown or crater a career. Lemon, once CNN’s primetime draw, now scrapes YouTube relevance; Kelly, ever resilient, turns barbs into bulletproof branding. As X user @ThomasSowell quipped, sharing Michaels’ clip: “Miserable individuals put it on display weekly.” In the end, Lemon’s “trans” jab didn’t just clock Kelly—it backfired, spotlighting his own fractured facade.