Don Lemon turned on his old pal Jussie Smollett hours after his conviction for faking a hate crime - but continued to avoid claims he'd offered the actor inside information about the police probe into his claims.
Speaking hours after Smollett was convicted of faking a racist and homophobic hate crime, Lemon said: 'He had to make up too many lies as to why he didn't want to do certain things,' said Lemon on Thursday night.
'To cover. Like another lie - and I guess he got caught up in that because he took the stand himself.
'He got angry with the prosecutor as the prosecutor poked holes in his story - calling the only other witnesses liars.'
Lemon also blasted Smollett for making it harder for real victims of hate attacks to be taken seriously.
And he listened intently while his legal analyst Joey Jackson called for Smollett to face jail
Asked by Lemon what he thought of the verdict, Jackson said: 'I think it's the proper result.'
Don Lemon, who was previously friends with Jussie Smollett, on Thursday turned against the actor and accused him of being a liar
Lemon's guest, legal analyst Joey Jackson, said he felt that the jury got the verdict right
'When you look at the case, the verdict, everything else - many people have said this is a case about credibility; and he said, she said. I disagree.
'This is a case - every case relies upon credibility, but it's also about a narrative that makes sense.
'We lawyers before we go before juries and pick them, we say always use your common sense and good judgment.
'And when you weave a web and tell a tale, it becomes problematic.
'I think that's what happened here.
'His narrative - Mr Smollett's - didn't carry the day and the jury discerned something was amiss and they found him accountable. So that was the right result.'
Jackson said there were far too many inconsistencies in Smollett's story, pointing out that he told differing versions of events at different times, and noting that there were many unexplainable pieces of the puzzle.
Jackson said that Smollett's time on the stand, testifying in his own defense, was 'devastating' to the case.
Lemon added: 'Here's what folks are concerned about - that what he did might undermine future victims, legitimate victims of hate crimes.'
Asked by Lemon was sentence he was expecting, Jackson added: 'Look, I think there's a few things a judge is going to look at.
'When you look at sentencing, you always look at punishment, deterrence, rehabilitation.
'Obviously he's a young man with what was a bright future. His prospects of rehabilitation are absolutely there.
'But when you look to punishment, you have to punish conduct like this.
'Why? Two reasons. You mentioned one of them.
'There are people legitimately who were the victims of hate crimes, and how do you diminish them by coming up with something that's a farce? That's troubling and you have to punish that.
'Secondly, there are resources expanded from a police perspective in a city that needs them, right? Why do we take away those resources to focus on something that didn't happen when there's so many things that did happen that we really should be focusing on?
'So that's the second thing.
'The third thing is if you come into a courtroom and you take the stand, which is your right, but you fabricate and you're caught in those lies I think a judge really is taken aback by that. I think that's what he's looking at.'
Lemon, 55, is seen with Smollett, 39, at a June 2018 gala in New York City
Asked by Lemon if he expected Smollett to get prison time, Jackson said he did.
'A judge can give him probation,' said Jackson.
'But I think when a judge looks at all those things, punishment, deterrence.
'You don't want people acting this way. Hate crimes, you made it up. People really have hate crimes.
'You left the issue of expending of resources. That's a problem.
'You get on the stand and lie about it.
'I think the judge has to fashion a remedy appropriate not only to him but to send a message to all others that you probably should not be doing this.'
Smollett, the star of Empire, was found guilty earlier on Thursday by a jury in Chicago of staging a 'racist and homophobic hate crime' in January 2019, in a bid to make the producers of the show have more sympathy for him.
Smollett on the stand on Monday shocked many by testifying that Lemon, 55, contacted Smollett to tell him Chicago police did not believe his story.
While not proven, the allegation is sure to spook CNN bosses, who just last week fired star anchor Chris Cuomo after he was exposed as meddling in his brother Andrew's defense of sex pest allegations.
The jury took nine hours to convict Smollett on five of the six counts, and Lemon had little sympathy for his former friend, who he admitted in 2019 he texted 'every day' until it emerged the incident was a hoax.
Smollett is seen on Thursday leaving court after being convicted on five of six counts
Smollett is pictured in his mugshot after he was arrested on suspicion of faking the attack, which he said was racist and homophobic
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