CNN's Don Lemon received flak for his ham-fisted reporting of the Ferguson protests on Monday following the grand jury's decision to hand down a no-indictment charge against Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown last August.

Reporting just outside the Ferguson police station Monday night, Lemon began by describing the scene on the streets.

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There was a gunshot and people had started scattering, with others climbing on top of cars, he said.

"And obviously, there's a smell of marijuana in the air as well," Lemon added.

Later, the CNN anchor had provided comic relief amid the backdrop of torched buildings as Ferguson police sought to control the enraged public, firing off rubber bullets and lobbing tear gas canisters.

CNN's Chris Cuomo had just handed the broadcast over to Lemon, who was shown donning a gas mask on his forehead.

It seemed, however, that Lemon had failed to put the mask on properly and inadvertently tear-gassed himself. He then began coughing, asking for water. Minutes later, the anchorman had been heard asking for an IFB, a device used to communicate with producers.

Critics lambasted Lemon's ineptitudes on Tuesday as they took to social media and blasted his imitation of the "St. Louis accent" and for hiding out in a "safe room" while other CNN correspondents bravely reported on the scene.

On Tuesday, CNN's Sarah Sidner gamely carried on reporting in the streets of Ferguson after having been hit on the head with a bottle from a moving car.

This is not the first time Lemon has been criticized for not thinking before speaking.

Critics had raked the anchor earlier for his admittedly "crude" remarks to an alleged Bill Cosby sexual assault victim when he said she should have just bitten the comic rather than giving him oral sex.

Months later, Lemon had drawn ridicule for suggesting that the missing commercial airline Malaysian flight MH370 may have been sucked into a black hole. 

TagsCNN, Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Ferguson protest, michael brown shooting, Darren Wilson indictment, Sarah Sidner