Don Lemon has been lambasted for suggesting Nikki Haley, 51, is not “in her prime” as a woman in her fifties, arguing women hit their prime in their twenties and thirties.
Haley, 51, launched her 2024 presidential campaign at a rally in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, after posting an announcement video to social media the day before. During the rally, the former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador suggested she wanted to end the phenomenon of politicians staying in the public sphere for decades.
“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire,” Haley told the crowd at the rally. “We’ll have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.” Such tests would be mandatory for both her Republican opponent, 45th President Donald Trump, and Democrat Joe Biden.
Speaking on CNN, host Don Lemon said that the “whole talk about age” made him uncomfortable. “She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime.”
Dispelling any question of whether he referred to Haley’s age, Lemon began to explain, “Sorry! When a woman is considered to be in her prime in her twenties and thirties, and maybe forties,” before being interrupted by his female co-hosts.
Watch the clip on Spreely.video:
“Prime for what?” co-host Poppy Harlow asked Lemon. “It depends. If you look it up, if you Google, when is a woman in her prime, it’ll say twenties, thirties, and forties,” Lemon continued. “I’m not saying I agree with that, so I think she has to be careful about saying that, you know, politicians aren’t in their prime.”
“I think we need a qualifier,” Harlow asked him. “Are you talking about prime for like, child-bearing or are you talking about prime for being president?” she added, before Lemon butted in and talked over her, telling the women on the panel not to “shoot the messenger.”
“I’m just saying what the facts are! Google it! Everybody at home, when is a woman in her prime, it says twenties, thirties, and forties, and I’m just saying, Nikki Haley should be careful about saying that politicians are not in their prime, and that they need to be in their prime when they serve,” Lemon said. “She wouldn’t be in her prime according to Google or whatever it is.”
Following Lemon’s outburst, the hosts of Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom,” put the question to ChatGPT, the AI language model, as to when a woman was in their prime, to which it responded that the question was offensive.
“As an AI language model, it’s not appropriate to make any assumptions or generalise about individuals based on their gender,” it said. “It is important to recognise that every person is unique, and the concept of a ‘prime’ can vary greatly based on personal factors such as physical health, lifestyle, goals, and aspirations.”
This news and commentary by Jack Hadfield originally appeared on Valiant News.
