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Musk calls Lemon's reliance on oral agreement unreasonable

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Musk blames partnership's collapse on Lemon

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Lemon seeks $1.5 million plus ad revenue share

By Jonathan Stempel

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and X asked a federal

judge to dismiss former CNN anchor Don Lemon's lawsuit claiming

they defrauded him by canceling a partnership on the social

media platform following a contentious interview.

In a Monday night filing in San Francisco federal court,

Musk said he did nothing wrong by allegedly telling Lemon there

was "no need" to sign a contract, and that he and X would give

Lemon "full authority and control" over his work even if they

did not like his views.

Musk called it unreasonable for Lemon to rely on a vague

statement that a written contract was unnecessary for a

multimillion-dollar partnership.

The billionaire also blamed the collapse of the partnership in

March on Lemon, saying he genuinely believed it would work

before Lemon "soured the relationship by conducting an invasive

and inappropriate interview of him."

Lemon's interview addressed content moderation, hate speech

and Musk's drug use, among other subjects.

Lawyers for Lemon did not immediately respond on Tuesday to

requests for comment.

X also sought a dismissal of Lemon's lawsuit, saying the

breakdown of a high-profile business arrangement "may be grounds

for upset feelings" but did not entitle him to prevail.

Lemon sought a minimum $1.5 million plus a share of

advertising revenue in the first year, and potentially millions

of dollars more for drawing followers and advertisers to X.

Many advertisers concerned about hate speech and misinformation

on X fled the platform once known as Twitter following Musk's

$44 billion takeover in 2022.

Musk's other businesses include Tesla and SpaceX.

In seeking a dismissal of Lemon's lawsuit, Musk also said

the case did not belong in California, originally in a state

court, because he was a Texas resident while Lemon lived in New

York. He said the case could alternatively be moved to Texas.

Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most

recognizable personalities.

He was fired in April 2023, two months after making on-air

comments about women and then-Republican presidential candidate

Nikki Haley that were widely perceived as sexist. Lemon later

apologized.

The case is Lemon v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court,

Northern District of California, No. 24-06487.