The Florida man who alleges that CNN anchor Don Lemon jammed his finger in his face after rubbing his own genitals says the media would take his allegations more seriously if he was a woman.

Dustin Hice, 39, filed suit against Lemon, 53, last August alleging that the CNN star assaulted him at a Hamptons bar. Lemon denies the allegations.

Hice claims that he was with co-workers at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern in Sag Harbor on or around July 15, 2018, when he recognized Lemon.

Hice then made what he describes as a 'cordial gesture' and 'tried to get Mr. Lemon’s attention and offered to buy Mr. Lemon a drink'.

Lemon, 53, responded to Hice's offer by declining the drink and telling the young man he was 'just trying to have a good time', according to the court filing.

Dustin Hice (left), 39, filed suit against Don Lemon (right), 53, last August alleging that the CNN star assaulted him at a Hamptons bar. Lemon denies the allegation

Things then allegedly took a bizarre turn later that evening, according to Hice, who is asking for damages to be determined at trial.

'Sometime later that evening, unexpectedly, Mr. Lemon walked towards Plaintiff and his colleagues inside of Murf’s,' states the complaint.

'At such time, Mr. Lemon, who was wearing a pair of shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt, put his hand down the front of his own shorts, and vigorously rubbed his genitalia, removed his hand and shoved his index and middle fingers into Plaintiff’s mustache under Plaintiff’s nose.'

It then goes on to allege: 'Mr. Lemon intensely pushed his fingers against Plaintiff’s face under Plaintiff’s nose, forcing Plaintiff’s head to thrust backward as Defendant repeatedly asked Plaintiff "Do you like p***y or d**k?". While saying this, Mr. Lemon continued to shove his fingers into Plaintiff’s face with aggression and hostility.'

That is when Hice 'fled the bar' and took five to ten minutes collecting himself before he was able to return inside, having recovered from the incident which he claims left him 'shocked and humiliated'.

Lemon was gone by that point, while Hice was left 'emotionally devastated by Mr. Lemon’s demeaning unprovoked and offensive assault'.

Hice told Fox News that Lemon’s advocacy on television on behalf of sexual assault victims who spoke up during the #MeToo movement reeks of hypocrisy because of the CNN anchor’s own ‘vile, disgusting, lewd and inhumane’ behavior.

Hice is now revealing that he was offered a six-figure settlement by Lemon before negotiations broke down and a formal complaint was filed.

Lemon is seen above with his husband at their Hamptons home days before the alleged incident in the summer of 2018

He says that the alleged attack impacted his mental health.

‘I’m not doing this for notoriety or fame, I’m doing this because I’m standing up for myself and what I believe in,’ Hice told Fox News.

‘I’ve grown a new respect for people dealing with mental health issues because stress, depression, anxiety, those are all very serious things.

‘It consumed my life.’

CNN declined to say if Hice was offered a six-figure settlement.

Hice says his case has not gotten much attention in the press because of his and Lemon’s racial, political, and gender backgrounds.

‘I’ve grown a little skeptical of the news after what’s happened to me, nobody acknowledges it anymore,’ Hice said.

‘The hypocrisy, he is a black, gay, liberal and supposed #MeToo advocate but when it doesn’t fit their narrative, or it's one of their own, they don’t even address it.’

Hice accused Lemon of trying to smear him in the press by leaking stories suggesting that he asked the CNN anchor to pay $1.5million in exchange for not filing the lawsuit.

LEMON DENIES ALLEGATIONS A statement from a CNN spokesperson said: 'The plaintiff in this lawsuit has previously displayed a pattern of contempt for CNN on his social media accounts. '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.' Advertisement

Hice told Fox News that there were discussions about a $1.5million payment, but there’s more to the story, he claims.

‘They painted me as trying to extort $1.5million from him but they never mentioned that he offered many times over six figures to settle. He tried to make payments on that and I said, “No thank you”,’ Hice said.

‘I think that when he went to CNN and [denied the accusations], he probably failed to mention that he offered me well over six figures in the settlement process.’

Hice said he rarely watched CNN before his encounter with Lemon.

CNN had at one point suggested that Hice’s lawsuit stemmed from his animosity toward the network.

Hice said he has grown particularly angry seeing Lemon discuss the #MeToo movement, where victims of sexual assault and harassment have come forward to accuse powerful men in industries like Hollywood, the media, finance, and others.

‘I don’t want to see his face on the news anymore because he’s a blatant liar and hypocrite,’ Hice said.

In September 2018, Lemon hosted a segment on his nightly talk show in which he discussed how victims of sexual harassment overcame trauma.

‘It was only two months after he assaulted me,’ Hice said.

Lemon (above with his husband on right and friends the day of the incident) allegedly 'removed his hand and shoved his index and middle fingers into Plaintiff’s mustache under Plaintiff’s nose'

‘This is something that I’m going to be healing from and recovering from for the rest of my life.’

Hice said that while he sympathizes with female accusers and victims of sexual assault, he should also receive the same kind of sympathy.

‘The media has labeled me as an “accuser,” as opposed to a “victim,” just because I’m a male,’ he said.

‘I’ve been struggling, but there [are] a lot of people that have gone through a lot worse things than somebody rubbing their genitals and putting it in your face, as disgusting and vile as that is.

‘There are people that have been raped and worse.’

Hice said a former FBI profiler administered a polygraph to prove that he was telling the truth.

‘I passed with flying colors, this guy hooked me up to this whole machine, it was nerve-wracking but I just wanted to prove that I’m not lying,’ Hice said.

Hice, who was working as a bartender at a different Hamptons bar at the time of the alleged assault, shut down his Twitter account just before filing his lawsuit. He is seen above with his sister

George Gounelas (left and right), who was Hice's boss at the Old Stove Pub in July of 2018, described what allegedly occurred on the night of the encounter at Murf's Backstreet Tavern.

‘Witnesses saw this happen. The whole town of Sag Harbor knew.’

Court papers filed claim that Hice’s boss at the Old Stove Pub, George Gounelas, witnessed the incident.

'Don Lemon has now come around the corner and is standing face to face with us. 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,' Gounelas said.

'So you like me? Is that why you're bothering me?' Lemon said, as Gounelas recalls.

'Nah, man, I just wanted to say, 'What's up?' Hice replied, according to Gounelas.

'Do you like me? Is that why you're bothering me, because you wanna f**k me?' Lemon said in so many words, Gounelas said.

Gounelas recalled: '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 his initial reaction was to laugh at Hice, which he now regrets.

'Dustin was in this shock mode saying, 'Bro, did that just happen? That was disgusting,' Gounelas said.

'The whole thing is like, I go out in the Hamptons, I live out here, I have a restaurant, I get it, people get crazy. To me, it was just another thing. To [Dustin], he was like shocked,' he continued. Hice was apparently a seasonal worker, whose last known location was Delray Beach, Florida.

To this day, Gounelas isn't sure whether Lemon was being aggressive, or simply taking an unconventional approach to flirting.