Don Lemon wasn't there to speak truth to power. He was there to build a media business on X, in which Musk, as the owner of X, invested his time to reach the large number of Lemon followers. Musk needs X to grow.

Both recognized there'd have to some controversy. During the interview Musk decided Lemon was pushing too much (right or wrong) and did his not uncommon thing of telling someone to "go f themselves". Why is that news?

In the end, they both got what they wanted, for the most part. Must didn't kick Lemon off X, he only said he wasn't going to continue investing in whatever secret deal they had between the racist and Uncle Tom ; ) (has Lemon disclosed that? of course not).

Musk's behavior, though boorish to you and I, doesn't change much.