Talk show host Don Lemon came under fire online for implying that Megyn Kelly is ugly because “she looks trans.”
Lemon appeared on his own Clip Farmers podcast on Sunday, which branched off from his Don Lemon Show six months ago. Cohosts John Cotter and Chris Miglioranzi asked Lemon whether Kelly was “chopped,” slang for ugly.
“She’s chopped. I don’t know, the whole [Make America Great Again] look, it’s too much,” Lemon said. “I think she looks trans[gender].”
“Let’s end on that note,” Cotter said after exchanging a glance with Miglioranzi.
“She looks clockable,” Lemon continued.
The comment drew criticism from supporters of the LGBT community. “Misgendering people is gross, calling someone trans as an insult is gross, calling someone trans to say they’re unattractive is gross, and it is not defending Megyn Kelly to say so,” one user wrote on Bluesky, the platform Lemon joined after abandoning X.
Others noticed that Lemon, a gay man, revealed what he thought about transgender people by using their identity as an insult. “Amazing. They just revealed their true colors about trans people,” one user wrote.
“I thought trans women are women and more beautiful than actual women?? Oh Don…” another user wrote on X.
Don Lemon says that Megyn Kelly is “not hot and looks trans..”
Are liberals using “trans” as an insult now..!? lmaoo pic.twitter.com/YfZC539Ltw
— American AF
(@iAnonPatriot) October 28, 2025
“Are liberals using ‘trans’ as an insult now..!?” another user wrote.
Then there were some who rejected Lemon’s perspective on Kelly’s looks.
“This is extremely weird on multiple levels. Whether you like her political commentary or not, Megyn Kelly is objectively beautiful,” Washington Examiner contributor Brad Polumbo wrote. “And how are you a woke gay liberal and using ‘looks trans’ as an insult?”
“Megyn Kelly is a smoke show,” another user wrote.
This is extremely weird on multiple levels.
Whether you like her political commentary or not, Megyn Kelly is objectively beautiful.
And how are you a woke gay liberal and using “looks trans” as an insult?
— Brad Polumbo
(@brad_polumbo) October 28, 2025
Lemon is known for making disparaging remarks about women. While still employed by CNN, he discussed the age of then-presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who was 51 at the time.
“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. When a woman is considered to be in her prime [is] in her 20s, and 30s, and maybe 40s,” Lemon said.
He later apologized for the comment he called “inartful and irrelevant.”
The YouTube channel that hosts the Clip Farmers podcast and the Don Lemon Show is among Lemon’s first projects since being fired from CNN in 2023 following a 17-year career there. Lemon’s channel, started in March 2024, has over 996,000 subscribers.
Among the first guests of the Don Lemon Show was X owner Elon Musk. Lemon offered Musk a testy interview that garnered over 3 million views on YouTube, in addition to views on X, where the show had a contract to air. However, in the days following the interview, Musk dissolved Lemon’s contract with X, but promised Lemon would still receive revenue from the show. By November 2024, Lemon announced he was leaving X entirely.
MEGYN KELLY GETS INTO HEATED EXCHANGE WITH STUDENT AT VIRGINIA TECH TPUSA EVENT
Meanwhile, Kelly’s YouTube channel, where the Megyn Kelly Show airs, has over 4.5 million subscribers. The Megyn Kelly Show also began airing on SiriusXM shortly after its start in 2021. This year, Kelly launched her own SiriusXM channel dedicated to her variety of shows.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Kelly for comment.