CNN's Don Lemon Files Police Report After Getting Threats for Telling Trump to 'Please Stop'
Police are investigating a Twitter user who allegedly hurled anti-black insults and threats at CNN anchor Don Lemon
Don Lemon filed a police report in New York against a Twitter user who allegedly hurled racist slurs and threatened to harm the CNN anchor after he made an impassioned plea to Donald Trump, PEOPLE confirms.
Lemon, 51, filed an aggravated harassment report with the New York Police Department on Wednesday after the social media user allegedly sent hateful messages to his private inbox on the app, an NYPD spokesman tells PEOPLE.
“It was harassment and they also made a threat. The person said, ‘I will find you real soon.’ And called [Lemon] a f—— n-word,” the spokesman says. “It’s being investigated at this time.”
The spokesman says the alleged harassment occurred on Tuesday. TMZ first reported the news, citing police sources who said the Twitter user told Lemon “can’t wait to stab your neck.”
“U r a pile of rotting dogs—,racist,communist,socialist, Liberal moron a–hole.i will find u U will pay.ill see u real soon,” another message reportedly read.
The police spokesman tells PEOPLE that the situation could eventually be investigated as a hate crime. It is unclear whether authorities have confirmed the identity of the Twitter user.
The alleged incident occurred about one day after Lemon published a passionate open letter to Trump on CNN, speaking out against the president’s treatment of a slain soldier’s widow.
RELATED VIDEO: Widow of Soldier Killed in Niger Confirms Donald Trump Said ‘He Knew What He Signed Up For’
Trump has come under fire after refuting Myeshia Johnson‘s claims that he told her during a condolence call that her late husband, U.S. Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, “knew what he signed up for” when he joined the military. She also said that Trump forgot her husband’s name.
In a tweet, Trump refuted Johnson’s claims, writing, “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!”
This did not sit well with Lemon.
“Mr. Trump, please stop it. Please stop!” he wrote in the letter.
“Think of what Sgt. Johnson would want. You are putting his widow in the terrible position of having to fight for her dignity when she should be concentrating on taking care of herself, her health, her two children, and the one on the way.”