Don Lemon revisits interview in which he told Cosby accuser to use teeth “as a weapon”

In November of last year, CNN host and former NBC10 anchor Don Lemon caused a media firestorm when, in an interview, he asked Bill Cosby accuser Joan Tarshis why she hadn't used her teeth "as a weapon" during an alleged sexual assault.

Now, he has provided more context to his comments.

In a recent interview with GQ, Lemon broached the subject of why he told Tarshis that "there are ways not to perform oral sex if you don't want to do it." At first, his response was somewhat subdued:

When I ask Lemon about his interview with the alleged Cosby victim and why he asked about the "usage of the teeth," he gives me a long answer about how the incident started a conversation about sex abuse. But it didn't do that, I tell him -- it started a conversation about people who say the wrong thing to victims of sexual abuse. And shouldn't he have known better? After all, he was a victim, too. He smiles and shrugs and eats his food.

But later, Lemon revealed the reasoning behind his Tarshis questioning, which stems back to the sexual abuse he experienced as an adolescent:

Later, after dessert, I ask him again, and finally I get the real answer: Lemon tells me that when he was a child and was being forced to perform oral sex on his abuser, he told that f---er that the next time, he'd bite his d--- off, and that's when Don Lemon stopped getting molested.

Lemon previously apologized for his questioning and revealed his history as a sexual abuse victim, saying that "I would never want to suggest that any victim could have prevented a rape."

Prior to that statement, Lemon addressed the sexual abuse he experienced in his 2011 memoir, Transparent.

Cosby, for his part, has been accused of sexual assault by more than 30 women. He has repeatedly issued denials through his representatives and has not been charged in any of the cases.

[GQ]