Don Lemon interrogates Elon Musk on depression, his 'prescription' ketamine use and Trump in interview that got him fired from X

Don Lemon's comeback show with Elon Musk saw the duo get into a tetchy exchange over his alleged heavy drug use, in a wide-ranging interview that included arguments over his Twitter habits and relationship with Donald Trump. 

The former CNN anchor claimed last week that Musk was 'so upset' by the interview that he cancelled their deal to exclusively share the show on X.

In the wide-ranging grilling - which at times sounded more like a deposition than an interview - Lemon took issue with the Tesla CEO's stance on woke ideology, racism, trans rights and drug use. 

The pair frequently disagreed, and traded barbs about neither having 'evidence' to back up their claims. Musk told him that users on X would correct any discrepancies in real time as they watched the interview. 

When quizzed over his prescription ketamine use, Musk appeared to take offense to Lemon's questioning and said it is 'pretty private to ask somebody about a medical prescription.' 

Don Lemon has shared the first interview from his comeback show with Elon Musk, where he interrogated the billionaire over his alleged heavy drug use

Musk cancelled his deal with Lemon to exclusively share the show on X after the episode, which the former CNN anchor claimed left the billionaire 'so upset' 

As of Monday morning Musk has not responded to the release of the interview, however several commentators have waded in to condemn Lemon's approach to the interrogation.

'The Don Lemon interview is the worst piece of media I've ever seen,' said commentator Benny Johnson.  'Nothing else even comes close. Offensive to the eyes & intellect... Oh this is painful.' 

Others noted the seemingly low viewership numbers that the show received in the hours after it was shared, drawing just over 80,000 views in five hours. In comparison, Tucker Carlson's first X show drew a total of 120 million views.

Conservative pundit Liz Wheeler criticized the questioning over Musk's drug use, saying: 'My jaw dropped. Don Lemon had the AUDACITY to ask Elon Musk what doctors prescribe him medication for… Kudos to Elon for handling that INSANELY rude question with class.' 

Drug Use  

As the topic fell on Musk's private life, he brushed off claims he is a heavy partier and seemed to try and direct the conversation back towards his work. 

'I think anyone who smokes pot can tell I don't know how to smoke pot,' he said, adding his infamous toke on the Joe Rogan podcast in 2018 was just 'one puff.' 

Musk has previously hailed the benefits of ketamine use for treating depression, and told Lemon that those that are struggling with their mental health should 'talk to their doctor about ketamine instead of SSRI's.' 

'There are times when I have a negative chemical state in my brain, like depression I guess, or depression that's not linked to any negative news, and ketamine is helpful for getting one out of a negative frame of mind,' he added. 

When asked if he has ever 'abused' the tranquilizing drug, Musk continued: 'I don't think so... if you use too much ketamine you can't really get work done, and I have a lot of work.' 

'It's a prescription from a real doctor, not a, you know...' he added, as the conversation stalled and became awkward. 

'Putting in 16-hour days, that's normal for me, and it's rare for me to even take off a weekend day, so I don't really have a situation where I can be not mentally acute for an extended period of time. 

'I can't really get wasted.' 

Musk noted that he will take a 'small amount' of ketamine every other week on average, and often 'there will be several weeks go by that I don't use it.' 

Musk said that his infamous weed smoking on the Joe Rogan was just 'one puff', and 'anyone who smokes pot can tell I don't know how to smoke pot' 

Cancelled show 

The show's release on Monday comes a week after Lemon's comeback was rocked before the interview was ever published, as he claimed Musk axed their deal in response to Lemon's line of questioning. 

On X, Musk countered that he decided to end his partnership with the show after finding Lemon's approach was 'basically just CNN, but on social media.'

'And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity,' he said, referencing Lemon's ex-CNN boss.

A source added to the New York Post that Musk was 'underwhelmed' at the end of the interview, and canned it after 'realizing how bad it was.' 

The two have since traded barbs online in the week since, as Musk branded Lemon a 'pompous fool' while Lemon challenged him to 'actually watch it.' 

Allegations also emerged that Lemon had made a number of demands in his X contract, which included a Tesla Cybertruck, an equity stake in X and a $5 million upfront bonus. 

Much of the interview centered on Lemon asking Musk about his private life and allegations that have been made against him, including at one point directly asking him: 'Do you suffer from depression?'

'I ask as someone who has suffered from depression,' Lemon said in an attempt to qualify the question. 

'I wouldn't say that I have a case of extended depression, it's just once in a while I get into a negative chemical mind state,' Musk responded. 

The two also failed to agree on the facts in Lemon's questioning, as when Lemon claimed that hate speech has increased since Musk bought X, he replied: 'That is false.'  

The two have since traded barbs online in the week since the show's deal was canned, as Musk branded Lemon a 'pompous fool' while Lemon challenged him to 'actually watch it' 

When the interview turned to Musk's relationship with Donald Trump, he brushed off implications that the two of them are close 

Relationship with Donald Trump  

Earlier in the show, Lemon asked Musk about his relationship with Donald Trump, as the billionaire has frequently shared right-wing jokes and comments online that have linked him to the former president's run for the White House.

Lemon referenced a recent meeting between Musk and Trump in Florida, which the billionaire brushed off as a chance encounter rather than a scheduled meeting. 

'I was at a breakfast at a friend's place, and Donald Trump came by, that's it,' he said. 

When asked what the two of them discussed, Musk paused and laughed, appearing to flounder for an answer for several seconds.

'He did most of the talking,' he said with a laugh. 

'Of all the things he said, there wasn't really anything groundbreaking or new. But he, you know... President Trump likes to talk.' 

When the meeting was revealed, it sparked rumors that Musk could put his huge fortune behind the former president. However, he quickly denied he had any plans to do so.

'While I'll voice my opinion (on the presidential race), I think I don't want to put my thumb on the scale voluntarily.' 

Musk responded with a blunt 'no' to several questions on the topic, including whether he plans to help Trump pay for his mounting legal bills.  

Musk responded with a quick 'no' when asked if he plans to help fund Trump (pictured together in 2016 with Steve Bannon), and said he doesn't 'want to put (his) thumb on the scale' 

Racism and DEI

Musk has courted controversy since buying Twitter, now X, in April 2022, and has used it as a platform to take on 'woke' issues including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in corporate America. 

He argued that 'trying to make everything a race issue is divisive or corrosive to society', and felt that race is given too much importance in the minds of many.

'I think we should not make this a constant subject I think we need to move on. I think we need to treat people as people,' he continued. 

'But I think we want to look to the future rather than the past. Because if you look at history everyone was a slave. We are all descended from slaves, it's just a question of whether it was less recently or more recently.'

Musk argued that DEI lowers standards, using the example of surgeons to claim that if they received their job through DEI, they may be more likely to make a medical mistake.

Lemon then interrupted that there was 'no evidence of that', leading to a tense moment as Musk repeated, 'I think there is' while Lemon insisted there wasn't. 

'They literally lowered the standards at Duke University... are you saying they didn't?' Musk said. 'I believe that is a false statement you're making.' 

Lemon claimed Musk was 'insulting' him with his views on race, which Musk angrily responded to as he claimed the ex-CNN host was 'putting words in my mouth' 

Musk grew irate as Lemon repeated that he was citing a 'hypothetical' scenario where a surgeon kills a patient as a result of DEI, angrily responding: 'I didn't say it was happening, I said it will!' 

'Do you believe that women and minority pilots are inherently less intelligent and less skilled than white pilots?' Lemon asked, again angering Musk as he responded with a quick 'no.'

'I'm just saying we should not lower the standards for them,' he said, challenging Lemon to read replies on X for 'all the evidence' that standards are lower under DEI. 

Lemon claimed that Musk was 'insulting' him as he implied that Musk was arguing that he hadn't been discriminated against in his life, which the Tesla chief batted off and insisted that wasn't what he was saying. 

'You keep putting words in my mouth,' he responded. 

'I'm saying that we as a country should move beyond questions of race and gender, and we should treat people as individuals.' 

The interview also fell on Musk's past comments on transgender rights. His daughter Vivian, formerly Xavier (far right, seen as a six-year-old in 2010), came out as transgender several years ago, and has said she no longer wants to be 'related to (Musk) in any way, shape or form' 

Trans Rights 

Lemon also took aim at Musk's past remarks on trans rights, bringing up an old tweet where Musk said that having pronouns in your bio means the 'woke mind virus ate your brain.' 

Musk's daughter Vivian came out as transgender several years ago, and they appear to be estranged. When she sought a legal name change in 2022 to Vivian Jenna Wilson, she said: 'I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.' 

The topic of transgender rights has since become a common theme of Musk's jokes, and Lemon said he 'writes a lot about that on the thing' - presumably meaning X. 

'Do you know what the term woke actually means?' Lemon asked. 

Musk countered that the term has 'come to mean a lot of things', to which Lemon cut him off by noting the original meaning was to have an understanding of 'inequities in society.' 

Great Replacement Theory 

Musk sparked backlash late last year after branding an anti-Semitic post about the 'Great Replacement Theory' the 'actual truth'.

The theory alleges that Jewish communities are orchestrating the reduction of white populations in Western countries by replacing them with mass immigration.

His tweet led a number of advertisers to leave X, and Musk later visited Auschwitz in an apology tour where he admitted the post was 'foolish.'

He has also claimed that Democrats push immigration to get 'more votes', a claim that Lemon took issue with in his interview as he noted that undocumented immigrants can't vote, so 'how is that possible?'

'You're conflating two things,' Musk responded, as he argued that he 'doesn't subscribe' to the Great Replacement Theory. 

'Immigrants have, at least from what I've read, a very strong bias to vote Democrat,' he said. 

While they cannot legally vote, Musk said that censuses also count non-citizens, and the states that have higher immigration therefore receive more representation in Congress. 

He cited higher numbers of illegal immigrants in California and New York, and claimed that not counting them in Congressional representation would lead Democrats to lose approximately 20 seats in the House. 

When Musk claimed the same is true with the presidential Electoral College, Lemon responded that the Electoral College system actually mathematically helps Republicans. 

In another tense exchange, Musk responded: 'I think that statement is true, but I think that what I said is also true.' 

While much of the interview centered on Musk himself and his personal life, Lemon also quizzed him on the upcoming release of the new Tesla Roadster (pictured) 

Tesla 

While much of the interview centered on Musk himself and his personal life, Lemon also quizzed him on the upcoming release of the new Tesla Roadster.

Musk has said that deliveries of the vehicle, which has been in the works since 2017, may finally be ready for 2025, and has claimed it will be the fastest car of all time with a 0-60mph acceleration in under a second. 

'Are there any kind of updates?' Lemon said, adding a jab that Tesla stock has dropped. 'What's next for the company?' 

'The stock's going to go up and down, but what really matters is, are we making and delivering great products?' he replied. 

'The Tesla products are outstanding,' Musk continued. 'Last year, the Tesla Model Y was the best selling car of any kind in the world. 

'We launched the Cybertruck, that's obviously being very well received... So, it's a really special product.' 

At the conclusion of the show, Lemon remarked that he knew Musk had to leave soon so he offered him a 'rapid fire' final question - if the billionaire would 'change anything that you've done' from any stage of his life.

'I have made many mistakes over the years,' he said. 'If I had a time machine I'd go back and fix them, but I don't have a time machine.' 

Lemon closed the interview with a brief monologue saying: 'And that's it. And as Elon would say, you be the judge.

'Let me tell you something about this show. The conversation doesn't end just because the camera stops. We'll see you next time.'