Tucker Carlson knocks CNN host Don Lemon’s hypocrisy on race: ‘He doesn't like diversity at all’

Don Lemon has said America is racist but Fox News host Tucker Carlson pointed out that the CNN personality lives in "one of the whitest towns in America" and "runs away from diversity" when he’s not championing it.

Lemon declared in a recent Washington Post interview that former President Donald Trump was "the necessary wake-up for America to realize just how racist it is." Lemon, who recently penned a book, "This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism," fancies himself an authority on the subject. 

"We’re living in two different realities as Black and White people. We knew, as Black people, what was lurking beneath the surface. I still believe that [Trump] was the necessary wake-up for America to realize just how racist it is," Lemon told the Post. 

Carlson scolded Lemon on Monday over the hypocrisy in his comments.  

"Don Lemon lives in a $4.3 million-home in Sag Harbor, New York. No, he doesn't live in Section 8 housing, he lives in one of the whitest towns in America. In fact, 80 percent, Sag Harbor is just three percent African-American. In the interview, Mr. Lemon said America needs to see more people like him. He regularly lectures America about diversity. What he didn't tell the Washington Post is that in his free time he runs away from diversity," Carlson told viewers. "He doesn't like diversity at all." 

DON LEMON: 'I DON'T KNOW' IF AMERICA SEES BLACK PEOPLE AS 'FULLY HUMAN'

Lemon has long spoken out on race issues, but he hasn't always toed what might be called a progressive line.

A 2013 clip of Lemon that was unearthed last year on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" showed Lemon reporting that 72 percent of African American babies are born out of wedlock and children with "absent fathers" are more likely to become criminals.

Lemon also criticized rap music, while CNN’s on-screen graphics said "five ways to fix our community" and warned Black people to "clean up your act."

"Studies show that lack of a male role model is an express train right to prison," Lemon said. "Please, Black folks, and if this doesn’t apply to you, I’m not talking to you, pay attention to and think about what has been presented in recent history as acceptable behavior."

The eight-year-old clip also features Lemon blasting "hip-hop and rap culture."

"A culture that glorifies everything I just mentioned, thug and reprehensible behavior, a culture that is making a lot of people rich, just not you. And it’s not going to," Lemon said in 2013.

DON LEMON SAYS BLACK LIVES MATTER ISN'T ABOUT BLACK-ON-BLACK CRIME

The clip was unearthed following comments made by Lemon to actor Terry Crews last year in which he defended the Black Lives Matter movement and criticized the latter's focus on so-called "Black on Black" crime. Shortly after "Tucker Carlson Tonight" aired the clip, a 2014 clip of him was posted where Lemon told actor Morgan Freeman he was "tired" of talking about race. 

The CNN host certainly isn’t tired of talking about race any longer and is often accused of making everything about the issue while literally writing a book on it. However, Lemon brushed off criticism when the Post confronted him about transforming views. 

"People can say want they want. If they want to believe that I’ve transformed, I’m okay with that. I would like to think I have found my groove. That I’m a better communicator. I am secure in my position, and I speak with even more authority than when I started," Lemon told the paper. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"But if by saying that, people are saying I ‘wasn’t Black enough’ before, then that’s certainly not true," he added.  "Are you the same person that you were a few years ago? Let’s hope not. We all evolve."

CNN is regularly criticized for allowing on-air hosts that are billed as "anchors" to express far-left opinions while other cable news networks separate opinion hosts from straight-news anchors. Lemon essentially admitted this occurs at CNN, which has taken a strong left turn since the Trump era.

"People have become used to me now in that position, speaking from a position of authority, giving my point of view as an anchor, on prime time," Lemon told the Post.