Accuser Drops Don Lemon Assault Suit, Recants Claims
‘CRASS MONEY GRAB’
The CNN star’s attorney hailed the decision while taking a shot at right-wing media figures who boosted the salacious and ultimately false allegations made by the accuser.
A lawsuit accusing CNN anchor Don Lemon of assault was dropped on Monday after the plaintiff said he misremembered the supposed incident. The accuser, Dustin Hice, had initially alleged that he suffered trauma and humiliation following a 2018 encounter with Lemon in a Sag Harbor bar. Hice’s case largely fell apart in March, however, when he was ordered to pay $77,000 of Lemon’s legal fees after the court determined he destroyed evidence. Hailing the decision, the CNN star’s lawyer called the suit a “crass money grab from its inception” while hitting the “unethical” coverage of the case by some in the media. (Ex-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, for instance, uncritically boosted Hice’s allegations.) “After a lot of inner reflection and a deep dive into my memory, I have come to realize that my recollection of the events that occurred on the night in question when I first met CNN anchor Don Lemon were not what I thought they were when I filed this lawsuit,” Hice added in a statement.
HICE statement: “After a lot of inner reflection and a deep dive into my memory, I have come to realize that my recollection of the events that occurred on the night in question when I first met CNN anchor Don Lemon were not what I thought they were when I filed this lawsuit."
