Longtime CNN host Don Lemon has lashed out at the cable news network two months after apologizing to viewers for misogynistic comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.

“I am stunned,” Mr Lemon wrote on Twitter, noting that he was told by his agent that he had been let go.

CNN itself published that the announcement “came without explanation and astonished the media industry.”

“CNN and Don have parted ways,” CNN chair and CEO Chris Licht said in a memo to staff. “Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”

Lemon had appeared on his show on Monday morning and said the news came as a total shock.

“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned,” he wrote on Twitter. “After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.”

The controversial anchor had come under fire in February for an episode of “CNN This Morning” in which he remarked that 51-year-old Haley was not “in her prime.” A woman, Lemon said, was considered in her prime “in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s.”

“It is clear that there are larger issues at play.”

Photo: Reuters