According to a source, female CNN employees outraged by Don Lemon’s sexist remarks about women in their fifties last Thursday want the network anchor fired permanently.

Tuesday was the third consecutive day that Lemon was absent from the morning program he co-anchors with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.

On Thursday, after the 56-year-old resorted to insulting women over the age of forty as “beyond their prime,” the couple was apparently outraged. According to the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, other women within the network are furious.

Several have stated that Lemon’s vacation should be “permanent.”

The outlet reported, “Furious female staffers at CNN have threatened to quit if Don Lemon stays on-air following his sexist comments last week that Nikki Haley and women in their 40s are ‘past their prime.’”

According to a source close to the beleaguered network, “People are hurt by his actions and are not going to let this go. It is like every woman over 50 in America has taken this as a personal insult. The female staffers at CNN definitely have. He needs to make his vacation a permanent one.”

Another insider told the Mail, “The women of CNN are angry. He’s made it impossible to do their jobs. He’s an embarrassment to the network and needs to go.”

A lady apparently issued an ultimatum to the network, stating, “If Don doesn’t go, we will.”

Monday’s story that CNN denied Lemon’s departure was false. According to the network, any reports that Lemon is being fired are “patently false.”

According to the Mail, however, many of CNN’s few dedicated viewers are also enraged because he referred to them as “has-beens” while responding to Haley’s claim that many of the nation’s present leaders are too old.

Last week, the former governor of South Carolina and current Republican presidential candidate called for a new generation of leadership in Washington as she started her candidacy.

Lemon retorted, “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry. When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” he said.

He referenced a Google search as evidence that women such as Haley, 51, are past their prime.

Lemon issued a public apology hours after making the remarks.

The reference I made to a woman’s “prime” this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn't define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.

— Don Lemon (@donlemon) February 16, 2023

He also expressed contrition for the statements during a company-wide call last Friday, The New York Post said.

Their apologies have evidently fallen on deaf ears if the new reporting is correct.

According to the Mail, a campaign is emerging to drive Lemon out of CNN completely just months after he was ousted from his primetime role.

Lemon’s comments regarding women and age were delivered amid alleged friction between him and Harlow and Collins.

That behind-the-scenes drama has spilled over onto the low-rated show “CNN This Morning.”

The show already reaches a restricted audience and looks in jeopardy of plunging to a new low.