Fox contributor Tyrus didn’t mince words this week when he called out Don Lemon’s latest stunt as the desperate grab for attention it plainly is, declaring bluntly, “It’s over” for the kind of staged outrage that once passed for journalism. Conservatives everywhere watched a media figure who once hosted primetime now scrabble for relevance by cozying up to radical activists and ambush tactics. The clip of Tyrus’s takedown captured a lot of what most Americans already feel: tired of cable stars who trade credibility for clicks.
The facts are damning for Lemon’s defenders: video and reporting show he livestreamed with a group of anti-ICE activists who planned a surprise entry into Cities Church in St. Paul, and he followed the group inside while the service was disrupted. His own livestream framed the action as a “clandestine operation” and he admitted he would follow along and “show it live,” placing himself shoulder-to-shoulder with people staging the ambush. This isn’t speculative — the tape and contemporaneous coverage lay out his presence and his sympathies with the operation.
The legal fallout has been swift and appropriate: federal authorities opened an investigation, arrests were made of several organizers, and prosecutors even explored charges tied to federal protections for houses of worship before a magistrate judge declined to sign off on a criminal complaint against Lemon at this early stage. That decision does not erase what happened inside that sanctuary nor the obvious line Lemon crossed between reporting and activism. Americans who cherish religious liberty should be alarmed that a media personality treated a church like content on a livestream rather than sacred space deserving respect.
Lemon insists he was merely working as a journalist, a defense he and his lawyers have loudly repeated even as the video paints a different picture of someone embedded with organizers and willing to promote disruption. Saying “I was reporting” cannot be a blanket excuse for participating in or facilitating the kind of ambush that scares families and chases worshippers from their pews. The public has a right to demand higher standards from those who claim to be journalists, and Lemon’s own words on the livestream undercut the credibility of his cloak of neutrality.
What Tyrus and other conservatives are calling out is not just one bad day for a cable pundit — it’s the pattern of media elites who believe rules and consequences apply to everyone else. When the press becomes indistinguishable from activist mobs, the loss is not only to viewers but to the country’s civic fabric; the media’s job is to inform, not to stage ops that inflame and divide. If the legacy media wants to repair any shred of public trust, it should start by forcing real accountability for on-air actors who willingly cross the line into stirring chaos.
Hardworking Americans who respect faith, law, and order should be outraged, not distracted. We should applaud investigators who take threats to houses of worship seriously, and we should stop pretending that fame or a TV feed gives anyone the right to weaponize religion for ratings. If the media wants redemption, let it begin with humility, restraint, and an honest reckoning with the consequences of turning sacred moments into cheap content.
