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The assault case against CNN personality Don Lemon has been dropped after his accuser said he misremembered their interaction, Deadline reports.
In 2019, Dustin Hice filed a lawsuit against Lemon claiming the anchor shoved his fingers in Hice's face after rubbing his private parts. At the time, Hice also accused Lemon of displaying a pattern of "aggression and hostility."
Lemon's accuser recanted all of his prior statements and dropped the suit on Monday (May 2).
“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 said in a statement.
Hice even appeared on The Megyn Kelly Show last year and suggested the alleged assault was a "pattern" for Lemon.
Caroline Polisi, Lemon's attorney, said in a statement that the case was "a crass money grab from its inception."
“This has been a long and difficult journey for Don. 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,” Polisi said.
“Unfortunately, being a gay black man in the media, he has had to deal with these sorts of attacks for quite some time,” Polisi added in the statement.
Polisi said that Lemon is "looking forward to moving on with his life.”
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