A California appeals court judge denied allegations that he sexually harassed dozens of women over nearly two decades, calling some of the accounts outright lies and, at times, the product of long-held racial stereotypes of African American men.

Justice Jeffrey Johnson, under questioning from his own attorneys, denied the allegations that he propositioned Victoria Chaney, a fellow judge on the Second District Court of Appeal, countering that it was she, not he, who did the propositioning. He also denied that he ever used the term "big black dick," calling those allegations "humiliating and insulting."

"How did we get here?" he said, choking back tears, at a hearing on Thursday before the Commission on Judicial Performance at California State Bar Court in downtown Los Angeles. "When I have strived for 58 years, at least for my conscious life, for 52 years, to be a part of society and be known and recognized for my intellect? I'm at risk of losing my job because someone's saying I'm talking about the color and size of my penis. It's insulting."

At times, he got emotional when talking about his childhood in South Carolina, where he lived "literally across the street from the projects" and his parents raised him to compliment others and give hugs—a reference to claims that Chaney and others have made about his hugs being sexual in nature.

The hearing, which began on Aug. 5, is planned to last a month. The commission is investigating allegations that Johnson, an associate justice appointed to the Second Appellate District a decade ago, groped women, touched their bare arms or inappropriately hugged them. He faces 10 counts of misconduct, including sexual harassment, misconduct and drunken behavior unbecoming of a judge. Depending on the findings, the commission could remove him from the bench.

The hearing is taking place before three special masters: Justice Judith Haller of the Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, Imperial County Superior Court Judge William Lehman and San Diego County Superior Court Judge Louis Hanoian.

Johnson has acknowledged some of his behavior was inappropriate but denied the most serious allegations, both in court papers and on Thursday, which was the first time he testified about the allegations.

He admitted he made comments about an employee's tattoos, necklace and boyfriend, stating he was trying to be supportive, chivalrous or just curious. "I've learned over the course of the past year, I had too much curiosity," he said. "It was innocent curiosity. It was curiosity just because I like people, and I ask a lot of questions."

He also said he had seen a therapist dozens of times who helped him understand that some of those comments could make people uncomfortable.

"It never would have occurred to me that sitting at a table with two women and another man, that I raise the comment, 'Oh, she's beautiful,' that potentially makes someone uncomfortable," he said.

He attributed some of the allegations to lies and racist stereotypes of black men. One of them comes from former California Highway Patrol Officer Tatiana Sauquillo, assigned to drive Johnson to work functions. She alleged that Johnson told her he wanted to "fuck her from behind," she said. Another woman, Roberta Burnette, a former partner at Dentons now at Burnette Law Firm in Los Angeles, and a musician, said Johnson told her to put her viola hands "on my big black dick."

"They invoke images of me as a black man that are on their face racist and stereotypical," he said. "What shocks me about this process, and shocks we with regard to the CJP, is the racism of the charges, the accusers, is blatant. But nobody has stopped to look at it and say, 'Is this real?' Nobody seems to see it. This is the history of our country."

Such an allegation, he said, "crushes my soul."

"I don't want to be identified in this world by someone else's thought of what I would say about my genitals," he said. "I would want to be recognized in the way many of my colleagues have: by my thoughtfulness or my intellect or concern for other people."

He denied he'd met Burnette or that he'd propositioned Sauquillo, adding that he was dealing with a police report at the time about a man stalking his daughter.

He said the allegations from Chaney, 73, were "most hurtful of all. They break my heart."

"It's betrayal, it's subterfuge, it's dishonest at the level that's very hard for me to comprehend," he said.

When asked about her claim that he invited himself into her hotel room while attending a conference in Reno, Nevada, he called it an "unequivocal lie."

"I don't know where her room was in that hotel," he said. "I never went to her room."

He denied her allegation that he suggested they have a sexual affair. He also painted an image of Chaney as an insecure woman who enjoyed the attention of men. In Reno, he said it was Chaney, not him, who propositioned him while walking around the city one day after the conference had ended.

"She said, 'In my day, I was a very attractive woman, men really liked me,'" he said. "I said, 'I can see that.' And then she said, 'A lot of men have told me over the years, complimented me over the years, that I'm really, good,' and, these are her words, 'that I'm really good at sucking dick.' I couldn't believe what I just heard."

She later told him he looked like he had a "nice package."

He also denied her reports that he frequently grabbed her breasts while hugging her, often accompanied with comments like, "Mmm, you feel good."

"Again, stereotypical allegations of you being inarticulate and animal-like, and making animal noises, is a total insult," he said. "But, again, that's what this is about."

On one occasion, Chaney claims he told her he wanted to kiss her and "squeeze my titties"—a report he denied on Thursday, calling that "an eighth-grader's word."

Johnson also refuted claims from the daughter of Second Appellate District Justice Thomas Willhite. She told others who testified that Johnson sexually harassed women at a local bar. Instead, Johnson testified, Willhite's daughter, who he didn't know, approached him and told him who her father was. "She said, 'He thinks you're a fucking idiot,'" Johnson said. "That's what she actually said. My breath went out of me."

Johnson's lawyers at the hearing were Reg Vitek, a shareholder at San Diego's Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, along with Paul Meyer, a solo practitioner in Costa Mesa, California. Johnson's legal team also includes Thomas Warwick Jr. of San Diego's Grimes & Warwick, and Willie Brown Jr., the former mayor of San Francisco.