Don Lemon accuser drops assault case, claims he misremembered the incident

The man who accused CNN anchor Don Lemon of assault dropped his case after he claimed to have misremembered the incident.

The case's dismissal comes weeks after a federal judge ordered Dustin Hice to pay Lemon $77,000 for not complying with the court's rules.

The Eastern District of New York District Court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice on Monday.

Hice filed the original lawsuit against Lemon in 2019, claiming the CNN personality assaulted him in a Hamptons bar the previous summer.

The accuser reportedly offered to pay witnesses on his side for favorable testimony, and his case subsequently fell apart.

Hice's attorney Robert Barnes sent The Advocate a statement from his client.

"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. As a result, I am dropping the case," he said.

Lemon's attorney Caroline Polisi welcomed the development.

"Thankfully, Mr. Hice was finally able to access his memory and recollect the correct version of events on the night when he approached Don Lemon," she told The Advocate.

"The Court's ruling fully vindicates Mr. Lemon and brings an end to this abusive lawsuit," she said. "This case was a crass money grab from its inception. Mr. Lemon has never paid the plaintiff a dime over the course of this unfortunate spectacle, and he is looking forward to moving on with his life."

Journalist Megyn Kelly still defended Hice's original story, however. 

She said the mainstream media was "ignoring Dustin's MeToo story" and said that Lemon's people were "paying up" to end the case before it went to trial.