Don Lemon likens church storming to Jesus cleansing temple, calls churchgoers 'entitled'

Former CNN host Don Lemon likened his recent participation in the disruption of a Minnesota church service to Jesus Christ overturning the tables in the temple and implied during a podcast earlier this week that the outraged congregants were white supremacists.

"Jesus turned the tables over in the temple, right? He flipped the tables because He was tired of them not doing what they're supposed to do in His Father's house, and not living up to the tenets of Christianity," Lemon said during a glitchy interview on the liberal "I've Had It" podcast Monday.

Don Lemon claims the agitators who stormed into the church, disrupted services, screaming at parishioners "went there to talk," blames the pastor for telling them to leave.

Says the protest inside a house of worship was meant to make worshipers uncomfortable. pic.twitter.com/xgWmHFscZO

— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) January 19, 2026

Lemon accompanied a group of anti-ICE agitators as they interrupted the Sunday church service at Cities Church, a Baptist congregation in St. Paul, to protest that one of its pastors also serves as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office.

Minnesota's capital region has been roiled in recent weeks by protests against federal officials after two ICE-involved shootings, including the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, whose name protesters chanted in the face of churchgoers.

I didn’t really want to watch this video but finally viewed it all just now. We really need to require our liberal friends and relatives to view it. It’s so terrible.

pic.twitter.com/iDtCYUxJ0V

— SteveAustinWI (@SteveAustinWI) January 19, 2026

Lemon's reference to Jesus cleansing the moneychangers from the Court of the Gentiles, which was the court farthest from the temple, is an episode that appears in all four Gospels, and Christian commentators generally agree it was a unique task suited only to Jesus that affirmed His authority and messianic role of grafting in the Gentiles.

Lemon told podcast host Jennifer Welch, an atheist interior designer, that he believes a pastor serving a bi-vocational role enforcing federal immigration law is "doing the exact opposite of what Christianity is supposed to be about."

Lemon went on to criticize the Rev. Jonathan Parnell, the lead pastor of Cities Church, who denounced the disruptive protest during worship as "shameful" and calmly asked them to leave while Lemon interrogated him at his pulpit about the U.S. Constitution.

NEW: Don Lemon tries lecturing a pastor on the First Amendment after a mob of far leftists stormed a church in Minneapolis.

Pastor: “This is unacceptable. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship…”

Lemon: “Listen, there's a constitution, the First… pic.twitter.com/joHdCvaXe6

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 18, 2026

"I think if you are going to be a representative of the Lord and of God, then perhaps you should conduct yourself as such," said Lemon, who went on to acknowledge that having a church service upended is unusual.

"I understand that people don't encounter this all the time, and that it can be unnerving for some people, especially for young people, but I think in the way that you handle it with young people, is what I said before: this is what America is about," he said.

"This is the reason we have a Constitution. People don't always agree. This is part of the rights that we're given under the Constitution we may not like."

Lemon was echoing a sentiment he made in a video at the time that showed families fleeing the church with their frightened children, during which he said some likely found the experience "uncomfortable and traumatic," but quipped, "That's what protesting is about."

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the protesters for potential violations of federal law, including the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994, which prohibits "intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with... [anyone] seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship."

Lemon has since attempted to distance himself from the organizing protesters, though some have noted he had been with organizer Nakima Levy Armstrong before the incident and provided her crew with coffee and donuts.

During his podcast with Welch, Lemon suggested ICE agents and the congregants of Cities Church are racist.

"I think people who are in religious groups like that — it's not the type of Christianity that I practice — but I think that they're entitled, and that entitlement comes from a supremacy, a white supremacy, and they think that this country was built for them," Lemon said. He added that such people believe the U.S. "is a Christian country, when actually, we left England because we wanted religious freedom."

"It's religious freedom, but only if you're a Christian and only if you're a white male, pretty much," he claimed.

A congregant of Cities Church told The Christian Post on Tuesday that they have been advised to avoid speaking with the press amid an ongoing investigation, but Parnell issued an X post Tuesday citing the 1563 Heidelberg Catechism, which is one of the foundational texts of the Protestant Reformation.

"I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this vale of tears," Parnell wrote. "He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father."

On Tuesday evening, the elders of Cities Church issued a statement affirming that "Jesus is real" while condemning the protesters' behavior.

"On Sunday, January 18, a group of agitators jarringly disrupted our worship gathering. They accosted members of our congregation, frightened children, and created a scene marked by intimidation and threat," the statement said.

"Such conduct is shameful, unlawful, and will not be tolerated. Invading a church service to disrupt the worship of Jesus — or any other act of worship — is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation."

Noting that Jesus "offers a love that transcends cultures, borders, policies, and politics," the elders added that "church buildings are meant to be places of peace and solace, where worshipers can hear and live out this message" and called on law enforcement at all levels "to protect this fundamental right."

President Donald Trump touched on the incident Tuesday during a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room on the first anniversary of his second inauguration.

"They're patriots," he said of ICE officers. "And they have to be abused by guys like Don Lemon, who is a loser lightweight. I saw him, the way he walked in that church, it was terrible."

Trump went on to express admiration for Parnell and how he handled the tense situation.

"I have such respect for that pastor," Trump said. "He was so calm, he was so nice. He was just accosted. What they did in that church was horrible [on Sunday]."

???? President @realDonaldTrump calls out Don Lemon’s disgraceful targeting of innocent Christians at Mass in Minnesota:

“I saw him the way he walked into that church; it was terrible. I have such respect for that pastor. He was so calm, he was so nice. He was just accosted. What… pic.twitter.com/wifb4uqaoo

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 20, 2026