Former Fox News and NBC news anchor Megyn Kelly has taken an extrordinary interest in CNN anchor Don Lemon, and the accusations made against him by a Hamptons bartender.
Dustin Hice is Lemon’s accuser, and Kelly gave Hice a prominent feature on “The Megyn Kelly Show” and podcast on Nov. 8.
Hice’s racy allegations have resulted in a lawsuit filed against Lemon. In that lawsuit, and on Kelly’s show, Hice detailed his version of what happened beteen the two in July 2018.
Hice claims that after working as a bartender at The Old Stove Pub in Sagaponack, he went for an after work drink at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern, in Sag Harbor. At the tavern, Hice noticed Lemon and as a joke, ordered two lemon drop drinks to share with the CNN host with the same name.
Mr. Lemon was not amused, and asked Hice to leave him alone. “I didn’t mean anything derogatory towards it,” he told Kelly. “But as soon as he said, ‘I’m just trying to have a good time,’ I just walked away.”
After that Hice claimed that Lemon walked over to him asking loudly “do you like pussy or dick,” and then according the Hice, Lemon put his hand down his own pants and shoved his finger’s at Hice’s face.
Lemon, of course has a different version of events, and claimed that Hice was yelling at him across the bar and denied any assault.
Kelly is being accused of flaming the fires of the lawsuit against Lemon by having Hice on her show and legitimizing his claims. Very few other media outlets, other than the NY Post, Radar Online and Mail Online, have run the story.
Kelly did add a little bit of flair to her interview with Hice when she asked him, if he thought that Lemon had done this before to other people. “Anybody that acts like that in public without any fear of what it might do to somebody or the consequences it might have, that’s a pattern. I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s protected by the fact that he’s African American, gay man on television and I’m nobody.”
The Kelly interview resulted in Lemon’s attorney’s accusing her of a lopsided and inaccurate interview. It is interesting to note that one of the two parties who sent and received the letter from Lemon attorney Caroline Polisi leaked it to Radar Online and Mail Online.
In the letter, Polisi claims that Kelly permitted Hice to make unchallenged and false and misleading statements about Lemon.
Polisi goes on to write that Kelly has unfairly treated Lemon for some time. “For years, you have made public statements-on social media, to the press, and on your show-recklessly accusing Mr. Lemon of being biased, of lying to viewers, and of treating his guests unfairly.”
“You did not pose any questions to Hice about these matters, but instead, accepted his narrative wholesale, leaving your listeners with a lopsided and inaccurate understanding of Mr. Hice’s allegations or the strength of the evidence he has against Mr. Lemon. You permitted Mr. Hice’s statements to go unchallenged during your broadcast, clearly out of a vendetta you have against Mr. Lemon.”
Hice has also alleged that Lemon tried to pay him off three times in an effort to withdraw his lawsuit. Polisi said that the legal filings in this case show that Lemon has offered $8,000 to make the case go away. But Lemon and his legal team claim that Hice demanded $1.5 Million as a settlement in which Hice would not “go public” with the allegations.
Polisi also accuses Hice of attempting to bribe a witness to change his testimony. Polisi and Lemon asked Kelly to correct her reporting and her prior statments about the case, which she has yet to do.
The one piece of the letter that may imply a legal consequence for Kelly is when Polisi writes that Kelly’s public statements “demonstrated a reckless disregard for the truth,” which is a legal standard on which someone can be sued for libel.
CNN’s only comment on the matter has been “Don categorically denies these claims and this matter does not merit any further comment.”
Kelly is also an attorney, who has called Hice a sexual assault accuser. Polisi used that statement to put Kelly on notice, because nothing in Hice’s lawsuit alleges sexual assault.
Lemon is a married gay man. Hice told Kelly that he is heterosexual.
What the origins are to the Lemon-Kelly feud are unknown.
