Assault charges against CNN’s Don Lemon have recently been dropped after a man initially accused him of assaulting him in a Sag Harbor bar.
“After a lot of inner reflection and a deep dive into my memory, I had come to realize that my recollection of the events that occurred on the night in question when I first met CNN anchor Don Lemon was not what I thought they were when I filed this lawsuit,” plaintiff Dustin Hice said in a statement.
Lemon, 56, allegedly demonstrated a pattern of “aggression and hostility,” according to Hice’s 2019 complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Lemon allegedly placed his hand down his pants, stroked his private parts, and slammed his fingers into Hice’s face.
Late last year, Hice spoke on “The Megan Kelly Show,” suggesting that the alleged behavior could be part of a “pattern.”
According to Deadline, US Magistrate Judge Thomas Locke ordered Hice to pay Lemon $77,000 in attorney costs for destroying or tampering with evidence and attempting to bribe witnesses.
After Hice retracted his charges, Lemon’s attorney Caroline Polisi issued a statement alleging the matter was “a crass money grab from its inception.”
“This has been a long and difficult journey for Don,” the statement said. “Out of respect for the judicial process and my advice, he has had to remain silent in the face of a malicious and vulgar attack on his character.”
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Polisi added, “Unfortunately, being a gay black man in the media, he has dealt with these sorts of attacks for quite some time.”
Lemon’s lawyer said he is “looking forward to moving on with his life.”