The news anchor was fired by the network in April.
Don Lemon is speaking out. Two months after the news personality was fired by CNN, he granted his first sit-down interview to ABC24 Memphis and opened up his next professional moves.
"I'm not gonna force anything. I'm not gonna let other people's timelines influence me," he said. "I know people say, 'I miss you on television. What is your next move?' I'm figuring that out."
"I don't have to be in a rush. I think sometimes people rush to make decisions and they end up making the wrong decisions," Lemon added. "They rush into a relationship, and they end up marrying the wrong person. They rush into a job, and end up in the wrong house; wrong car. I'm not rushing into anything."
Whatever the future does hold for him, Lemon said he's "not worried about it at all."
"People are more worried about me than I am about myself," he said. "I am fine. I have somebody looking out for me."
Lemon's firing came shortly after Variety published an exposé on him, claiming that he had displayed "troubling treatment of women and unprofessional antics" for nearly two decades.
In a statement to ET at the time, Lemon's spokesperson said that the "reckless" story was "riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence," further alleging it was based on "unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip."
While Lemon didn't address the specifics of his firing or the Variety report in his latest interview, he said, "I have a responsibility not only as a journalist but as an American to tell the truth and to abide by the promises of the Constitution."
"Because the Constitution says a more perfect union, not a perfect union. I'm not a perfect person. No one is, but I think to fulfill the promise of the constitution, we have to stand up for what is right," he said. "We have to stand up for the truth."
Lemon further noted, "I don't believe in platforming liars and bigots, insurrectionists and election deniers and putting them on the same footing as people who are telling the truth; people who are fighting for what's right, people who are abiding by the constitution. I think that would be a dereliction of journalistic duty to do those sorts of things."
That belief, Lemon said, "is what has gotten me to this point, and those are the sorts of things that are going to carry me forward."
"To know that I am standing up and abiding by the Constitution," he said, "which my profession demands that I do because we are listing in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which is freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press."
Back in April, Lemon said that he was "stunned" by his firing, claiming that no one at the network had the "decency to tell me directly." CNN responded on Twitter, calling Lemon's claim "inaccurate" and writing, "He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter."
A source familiar with the situation explained to ET that CNN management's offer to meet with Lemon came after the network told his agent that he was fired, and his agent in turn told Lemon. At that point, Lemon didn't see the need to meet with CNN management, according to the source.
When ET spoke to Lemon shortly thereafter, he said he was "doing well."
"I am happy to be moving in a new direction. I'm going to miss all the talented people and journalists at CNN, who are my friends and who I love, and who I've been speaking to," he said at the time. "I'm fine, life is good."
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