Don Lemon offers bizarre apology, gets rebuke from CNN CEO over sexist remarks

“CNN This Morning” co-host Don Lemon gave a bizarre, rambling apology to co-workers — and earned a scathing rebuke from his boss — over his on-air, sexist Thursday diatribe about 51-year-old Nikki Haley being “not in her prime” that had enraged staffers and caused his co-host Poppy Harlow to walk off the set.

“The people I am closest to in this organization are women,” Lemon insisted, according to a transcript of his apology obtained by The Post. “The people I seek counsel to first in this organization are women. The person I am closest to is my mother, a woman.”

Lemon — who was conspicuously absent from Friday’s broadcast, with his co-hosts claiming he had taken a “day off” — delivered the awkward mea culpa during a 9 a.m. Friday call with editorial staffers that was led by CNN CEO Chris Licht.