Earlier this week a lawsuit was filed by a former bartender named Dustin Hice against CNN’s Don Lemon. Hice claims that he encountered Lemon one night at a bar in Sag Harbor. He says he offered to buy Lemon, who was with friends, a drink but Lemon politely declined. However, a few minutes later, Lemon allegedly approached Hice and, after putting his hand down the front of his own shorts, shoved his fingers under Hice’s nose and asked him if he liked “p***y or d**k.”

When I wrote about Hice’s account, I pointed out that it would take more than an odd story to convince people the incident had happened. I added that it would help Hice’s case if, “someone could back up hearing his story shortly after it allegedly happened.” Yesterday, Hice’s former boss told Fox News that he was at the bar that night and witnesses the whole encounter with Don Lemon:

In an exclusive interview, George Gounelas, who managed Dustin Hice at the Old Stove Pub in July of 2018, detailed what allegedly occurred on the night of the bizarre encounter at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern, which is located in the prestigious Hamptons area east of New York City. Gounelas is named in the suit filed by Hice… Gounelas said Lemon appeared “pretty drunk” when he confronted the duo at the wee-hours watering hole. “He put his hands down his pants, inside his board shorts, grabbed his [genitals], and then came out with two fingers and, like, clipped Dustin’s nose up and down with two fingers asking ‘do you like p—- or d—?’” Gounelas said… Gounelas told Fox News that the incident allegedly happened in the presence of others and he’s seen Lemon in Murf’s Backstreet Tavern on other occasions.

According to Gounelas, he didn’t think it was such a big deal at the time. He says he wasn’t even sure if Lemon was being rude or flirting. But he told Fox News that Hice appeared “shocked” by it. Gounelas says he began laughing at Hice even as the incident took place and continued to make fun of him afterward. Both he and Hice are placing a lot of emphasis on the fact that there are other people who know this happened. That would be an odd strategy if the story was made up out of whole cloth.

I guess there are two ways to view this at this point. Either Gounelas is part of a conspiracy with his former employee to level false charges against Don Lemon. The other option is that he’s a genuine eyewitness who just confirmed all of the gory details of Hice’s story.

Of course, Don Lemon still hasn’t told his side of the story. He may also be able to bring forward witnesses who tell a different tale. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. But for now, Gounelas’ description of the incident adds some credibility to Hice’s claims.