Don Lemon says he was sexually harassed whereas on the job at NCS. And he by no means spoke out about it at the time as a result of he feared he wouldn’t be believed.
Lemon made the admission throughout a sit down on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, throughout which he instructed Maher, “Someone who I worked with harassed me at NCS.” He added, “I’ve never told this story.”
Maher prompted Lemon to open up when he stated, “I’m sure if you had a nickel for every time someone’s hand drifted down your waist when you were taking a picture with them, you’d be a very rich man.” Lemon replied within the affirmative. “I would. I have been harassed by women and men in the workplace, and some things are not even—it’s just, it’s ridiculous.”
Prodding additional, Maher stated, “Tell us. I’m very interested.”
Lemon eased into the reveal by describing a time he was touched inappropriately at Atlanta’s NCS headquarters. “When I was in Atlanta and was in the cafeteria, commissary, whatever it’s called, at NCS. And this woman, a young lady, tweaked my nipples and said, ‘Oh, it’s cold in here.’ And I said, ‘OK. You realize if I did that, they’d be walking me out the door right now,’” he stated, explaining why he determined to not amplify the incident.
“I didn’t care,” he continued, “I didn’t go to HR. I didn’t say anything because I was just like, it’s a double standard.” Maher provided a “good for you” in response.
That’s when Lemon revealed {that a} feminine NCS co-worker had additionally sexually harassed him. “She knew I was gay, and it was just bizarre. She was going through a divorce.” He “never went to management,” since “I was so new there” and he thought “they may find a way to get rid of me because if I told this story.” That stated, Lemon admitted he now needs he’d come ahead at the time.
“She was so mean to me after that, I said like, ‘I should have told the story.’”
Maher, apparently unhappy with out the main points, prodded additional, “What constituted this harassment? What did she physically—like in the office? Like, ‘Come in and twirl for me, Don?’’”
All Lemon would affirm was that the incidents in query by no means passed off “in the office,” although he alluded to having presumably stayed over in that co-worker’s visitor room when issues went awry. “This was a while ago and there was not Uber and anything like that,” he stated, so after a “couple drinks” it was commonplace to catch a journey to a co-worker’s home.
Maher responded, “I wish I had been harassed this much, quite honestly. I think it’s flattering as long as you can fend them off easily.”