An accusation of assault against CNN host Don Lemon in the Hamptons last summer has been corroborated by a second man.
Lemon was accused by Dustin Hice, who worked as a bartender at the time, of grabbing his own genitals and making sexually explicit comments to him. Hice filed suit against Lemon last week seeking unspecified damages resulting from the encounter.
“He put his hands down his pants, inside his board shorts, grabbed his [genitals],” George Gounelas, Hice’s former boss who claims to have seen the whole encounter, told Fox News on Thursday. “[Lemon] then came out with two fingers and, like, clipped Dustin’s nose up and down with two fingers asking, ‘Do you like p—y or d–k?’”
He continued describing the July 2018 evening in question, saying, “Dustin worked for me as a bartender [and] we went out after work one night. We were standing there, and he said, ‘Hey, that’s Don Lemon.’ Murf’s is a place you go to drink after you’ve been out drinking. We had just gotten off of work. So that’s why we ended up there, because we worked in the restaurant business. So by the time everything is done, we can only hit a late-night spot.”
Gounelas recounted that Hice recognized Lemon at the bar and approached him to say “what’s up?” and to offer to buy the CNN newsman a drink. Gounelas said that Lemon declined to chat with Hice and rejected the offer of a drink. He assumed that would be the end of the interaction, but Lemon reappeared a short time later.
“Don Lemon has now come around the corner and is standing face to face with us,” said Gounelas, who also described Lemon as likely intoxicated. “There is a beam, a pole, in the place. Don’s standing up against the pole, face to face with Dustin, I turn around and I’m standing right there between the two of them. He’s saying, ‘So you like me? Is that why you’re bothering me?'”
It was at the moment, Gounelas asserted, that Lemon assaulted Hice.
“As his boss, I was kind of making fun. I feel bad now,” Gounelas said. “The place was packed. I’m sure other people saw. It was a known thing in the Hamptons, not like this quiet thing. Everybody knew Dustin and what happened to him. Every time we went out, every bartender offered him a lemon drop shot, making fun of him. He got some s–t for it.”
CNN has firmly denied that Lemon was involved in the alleged incident and said that Hice has a history of antagonizing the cable news network.
“The plaintiff in this lawsuit has previously displayed a pattern of contempt for CNN on his social media accounts,” a representative for CNN said. “This claim follows his unsuccessful threats and demands for an exorbitant amount of money from Don Lemon. Don categorically denies these claims and this matter does not merit any further comment at this time.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly state that Lemon has been accused of sexual assault. We have corrected the error.
