Video of Don Lemon laughing on air was altered; Maxine Waters was not his guest

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., appeared July 9 on “CNN NewsNight” to discuss President Joe Biden’s candidacy. As anchor Abby Phillip asked about the Democratic strategy to defeat former President Donald Trump, Waters adjusted her hair for about 20 seconds before answering, “I think we need to keep working and work harder.”

A July 10 Instagram video mashed up that moment with another one from several years ago involving a different CNN anchor. 

The Instagram video makes it appear as though former CNN anchor Don Lemon was conducting the interview and laughing as Waters adjusted her wig. The video included a voiceover saying “What’s Don laughing at?” and “Can we get hair and makeup in for Maxine’s wig please?” 

“BREAKING: CNN producer caught on hot mic dealing with Maxine Water’s wig problem,” text on the video reads.

(Screenshot of Instagram video)

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The voice was not a CNN producer, but commentary by the account @stevenvoiceover. 

The Lemon clip was taken from a February 2018 episode of “Don Lemon Tonight.” Lemon, who was fired in 2023 from CNN, was laughing after political commentator Symone Sanders-Townsend made a remark about Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former Trump administration staffer. 

“Don. It’s Black History Month, we gotta talk about Omarosa?” Sanders-Townsend said. “Carter G. Woodson did not go to the mat to get Negro History Week that eventually turned into Black History Month for us to talk about Omarosa and her apology tour and her attempt to salvage her reputation on a reality television show.”

Sanders left Lemon chuckling for a long time before he regained his composure.

Newman, a former “The Apprentice” contestant, was fired in 2017 from the Trump administration and ceremonially fired from the show’s first-season competition. She later said on “Celebrity Big Brother” that she was “haunted” by Trump’s tweets every day.

We rate the claim that a CNN producer was caught on a hot mic about Waters’ recent interview False.