Don Lemon Sues Elon Musk for Fraud and 'Unjust Enrichment' After Their X Partnership Dramatically Crumbled

Four months after Don Lemon announced that his streaming deal with Elon Musk's social media platform X had soured, the former CNN journalist is suing the tech mogul.

On Thursday, Aug. 1, attorneys for Lemon, 58, announced that they had filed a complaint against Musk and X (formerly Twitter) in the County of San Francisco.

The lawsuit claims that Musk and his social media platform — which he purchased a majority stake in back in April 2022 — committed fraud and breach of contract, misappropriated Lemon's name and likeness and became "unjustly enriched" when the platform kept the money made from Lemon's videos and posts, among other allegations.

Lemon announced in January that he had partnered with Musk to create and promote The Don Lemon Show, which would facilitate "honest debate and discussion without the hall monitors" and premiere exclusively on X.

But just days ahead of the show's debut, Lemon revealed that Musk had backed out of their partnership at the last minute, forcing Lemon to stream the first episode of his show independently.

Lemon's attorneys allege that Musk canceled their exclusive partnership in a text to Lemon’s agent, using the words "contract is canceled."

Lawyers for Lemon, who was abruptly ousted from CNN in April 2023, allege in their filing that Musk and X said they would pay the journalist $1.5 million over the course of several business quarters for his show.

The suit alleges that X also offered Lemon several incentives, such as 60% of the gross ad revenue that X received for programmatic advertising generated from Lemon’s content on X, $500,000 in advertising credits on X, portions of X's revenue for content creators that Lemon referred to X once their revenue exceeded $350,000, and the option to renew their deal two more times after the first year.

According to the lawsuit, Lemon and X never had a written contract.

"During Lemon’s June 16, 2023 phone conversation with Musk, Musk asked Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership deal with X and commented to him: 'I want you on the [X] platform' and 'this is what you should be doing,'" the suit alleges.

"Lemon expressed reservations about entering into a partnership with X due to the ongoing controversies surrounding the X platform," the suit continues. "In response, and to induce Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership deal with X, Musk represented to Lemon that he would have full authority and control over the work he produced even if disliked by Defendants, and that there would be no need for a formal written agreement or to 'fill out paperwork.' "

Lemon's attorneys also allege that Musk, who has more than 192 million followers on X at the time of publication, has "tweeted negatively about Lemon repeatedly" to his "very large audience" since March 2024.

"This case is straightforward," Lemon’s attorney Carney Shegerian said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. "X executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don's name through the mud."

"You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here. Don is an accomplished and hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name and holding X's executives accountable," Shegerian continued. "We look forward to our day in court.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Lemon's attorneys are seeking financial restitution and a jury trial, with the amount to be determined later in court, the suit states.

Musk responded to a report of Lemon's lawsuit against him in an X post shared Friday, writing: "He made a series of impressively insane demands. We declined. Therefore, there was no deal."