CNN host Don Lemon said he cut out a lot of conservative friends in his life amid the coronavirus pandemic because they weren’t taking the threat seriously.
“I have many people who I love in my life. I come from a red state. I’ve lived in several red states. There are a lot of friends I had to really get rid of because they are so nonsensical when it comes to this issue,” Lemon said on his show, CNN Tonight, on Thursday during the handoff from his colleague Chris Cuomo.
Lemon, who is from Louisiana, added that surges in coronavirus cases have moved largely from blue states with concentrated populations of people to red states.
“Red states are the problem,” he said. “I just had to get rid of a lot of people in my life because sometimes you just have to let them go. I think that they have to hit rock bottom like an addict, and they have to want to get help. They have to want to live in reality and want to be responsible not only for other people’s lives but for their lives. It is so sad. I don’t know if after this, I will ever be able to go back and be friends with those people.”
The coronavirus has now infected more than 5 million people in the U.S. and more than 220,000 people who have gotten COVID-19 have died.
“At a certain point you just say they’re too far gone and I got to let them go,” Lemon said. “If they’re willing to come back and willing to live in the reality then I will welcome them with open arms, but I can’t do it anymore.”
