Don Lemon, alleged news reporter at CNN, had a merry old time making fun of Donald Trump and his supporters on his program with two other yahoos who thought it was hysterical to mock Southern accents and question our ability to read good. After his unbelievably stupid breakdown on air, where he pretended to wipe tears from his eyes because he was laughing so hard, he is now claiming he had no idea what his guests were actually saying. Yeah, right.

“This is personally important to me to address this,” Lemon said at the end of his show on Tuesday. “I don’t believe in belittling people, belittling anyone for who they are, for what they believe, or where they’re from. During an interview on Saturday night, one of my guests said something that made me laugh. And while in the moment I found that joke humorous, I didn’t catch everything that was said… I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people.”

Baloney, with a side of horse manure, Don.

Don Lemon: "I don't believe in belittling people. During an interview, one of my guests said something that made me laugh. In the moment, I found that humorous.. ..𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥.." Sure you didn't. This is a bad apology. pic.twitter.com/p4j2b1u5sw — Jessica Fletcher (@heckyessica) January 29, 2020

Here’s how I know this is a straight-up lie. Let’s watch the original tape (which the RNC has already turned into a commercial). Watch how Lemon’s laughter increases with every exaggerated Southern drawl slur hurled at people who voted for Donald Trump. Not only is he laughing at the fake accents but at the very obvious insinuation that we can’t read or decipher maps.

The arrogance, the dismissiveness, the smug cackling, the accents. If Donald Trump wins re-election this year, I’ll remember this brief CNN segment late one Saturday night in January as the perfect encapsulation for why it happened. pic.twitter.com/8kQ6zN9AZV — Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) January 28, 2020

It is very clear that Lemon heard, registered, and increased his mirth with every bigoted thing that came out of those two chuckleheads’ mouths (one of whom claims to be a Republican strategist. With those kinds of strategists on our side, who needs enemies?). Claiming that he did not hear what was said is an outrageous lie. But thanks for the election commercial, Don. That’s going to help Trump win bigly.

Are you buying this explanation?

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Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo,” and host of The Fringe podcast. Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter