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"My initial reaction was sadness," Lemon tells the table. "I wasn't shocked. I didn't like that it happened to him."
Don Lemon recalled the "sadness" he felt when he heard about Jussie Smollet's horrific attack a couple weeks ago.
In preview clips for Monday's upcoming episode of "Red Table Talk," the CNN anchor spoke about calling the "Empire" star immediately after he heard about the incident, where Smollett was allegedly beaten up in a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago.
"My initial reaction was sadness," Lemon told the table. "I wasn't shocked. I didn't like that it happened to him. I called him because we have mutual friends."
"I talked to Jussie for a minute and he said, 'I gotta go, the doctors here' and it just made me sad," he continued. "Everyone talks about, 'Well, this happened and that happened.' My concern is for him."
Lemon, who like Smollett, is openly gay, also recently spoke out about Kevin Hart's Oscar debacle following the comedian's controversial comments about the LGBTQ community over the years. Although Lemon said on his show last month that Hart's apologies have "fallen flat," he told Jada Pinkett Smith and the table he thinks now it's time to "move on" from it all.
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View Story"Everyone was like, 'Don Lemon is going after Kevin Hart.' I wasn't going after Kevin Hart," Lemon explained. "I wanted Kevin to understand and to hear from people who look like me. It doesn't mean Kevin has to go around carrying a rainbow flag marching in a parade. That's not his prerogative, he doesn't have to do that."
"He's apologized," he added. "We should accept it. We can't bully him into doing or being someone he doesn't want to be or whatever and I think we need to move on and let Kevin be Kevin right?"
The special edition of "Red Table Talk" airs Monday on Facebook Watch.
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