The lawsuit asserts Fox executives knew that Henry had been accused of sexual misconduct long before June 25. Carlson is already in hot water after his top writer resigned earlier this month when it was revealed he had for years posted bigoted content on online message boards under a pseudonym. An Indiana couple filed a $100 million lawsuit claiming the movie Regarding Henry, in which Harrison Ford plays a man who suffers a severe brain injury, is based on their life story, which they tried to sell. After Ailes depature, Bill OReilly, once the linchpin of Foxs primetime schedule, was pushed out in 2017 after facing allegations of harassment. In a statement to Forbes, Fox News claimed that, following an independent investigation, all the allegations levied at Hannity, Carlson, Kurtz and Caldwell are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit and that the network would fight the lawsuit. The lawyersrepresenting the accusers,Douglas H. Wigdor and Michael J. Willemin, declined to comment to USA TODAY on whether the crimes alleged in the lawsuit are being investigated by law enforcement. When she instead invited him to dinner with her and a friend, he declined, she said. Unfortunately, it is actually worse, the suit says. The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and damages. Ms. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Foti said Henry had received graphic photos and suggestive messages from Eckhart. 1/3. She also alleges that in 2017, he handcuffed her as part of "violent, painful rape" in a Manhattan hotel room. Fox has since moved to distance itself from the alleged culture under Ailes. The evidence in this case will demonstrate that Ms. Eckhart initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship.". On one occasion, he told her to remove her underwear and deliver it to him in an envelope. The filing comes ahead of the September 10 Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areus claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit, Fox News said in a statement. A lawsuit filed by two women in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Monday accuses former Fox News chief national correspondent Ed Henry of raping one of them while the other plaintiff alleges she was sexually harassed by network hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz. Ed Henry looks forward to presenting actual facts and evidence, which will contradict the fictional accounts contained in the complaint. When he sent the video and the text, Henry was aware Areu was looking for full-time work at Fox News, according to the lawsuit. Areu politely declined but invited Mr. Kurtz to dinner with her and a friend who was in town. It follows the story of how some of Fox's female personalities, including Carlson and Kelly, set out to expose the network's hostile work environment of sexual harassment and how Ailes allowed it to thrive. regarding "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago." Ed Henry was terminated after Fox News received a complaint on June 25 from a former employee's attorney. Prominent Fox News commentators Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz are also named as defendants in the suit and are accused of sexual misconduct. 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My decision to speak out was not an easy one, but I refuse to let fear of retaliation, victim shaming and further attacks intimidate me into remaining silent. On Wednesday, Henry Ford Hospital employees filed a lawsuit against Henry Ford Hospital in U.S. District Court. ", More:Fox News fined $1 million in New York City settlement of sexual harassment allegations, Cable news race: Fox holds onto top spot in ratings after post-election dip. But it was the accusations made by Eckhart, a former employee, that led to the anchors dismissal. This is not one of those cases. Henryfiled a separate lawsuit the same day against several websites and Twitter handles who shared similar allegations against the former correspondent. Mr. Caldwell wrote, Ann is my friend. Mr. Caldwell, who knew that Ms. Areu would have loved the opportunity to meet and work with Ms. Coulter, used this fact to attempt to coerce Ms. Areu into dating him. None of the men have been mentioned before in any misconduct allegations at Fox until the charges were made by Cathy Areu. Mrs. Cox wrote a manuscript about their experience and sent it to several agents and publishers in the late 1980s, but it was always returned, the lawsuit says. He made the comments as Areu was stuck and hooked into studio equipment, according to the lawsuit. "The evidence in this case will demonstrate that Ms. Eckhart initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship. However, I simply could not stay silent given the tremendous harm that Mr. Henry and others at Fox News have caused for women affiliated with the company. The company has "worked tirelessly" under Scott'sleadership "to transform the company culture, implementing annual, mandatory in-person harassment prevention training, creating an entirely new reporting structure, more than tripling the size of our HR footprint, conducting quarterly company meetings and mentoring events, as well as executing a zero tolerance policy regarding workplace misconduct for which we engage outside independent firms to handle investigations," the statement said. Fox says it takes all claims of harassment and misconduct seriously. In an interview with Vogue magazine, Abrams claimed he wrote the script in two weeks when he was 23. The lawsuit on behalf of John and Joan Cox was filed this week in federal court in New York City. The lawsuit asserts Fox executives knew that Henry had been accused of sexual misconduct long before June 25. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Fox News Host Newly Fired For Sexual Misconduct Had Prompted Earlier Warning. Immediately after Henry sent Areu the video he texted her, Are you avail for anchor interview, the lawsuit alleges. "We are fully prepared to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations as Mr. Henry further embarrasses himself in a lawsuit rife with inaccuracies after driving his personal life into the ground with countless extramarital affairs in a desperate attempt for relevance and redemption.. The lawsuit also alleges that nearly 13,000 vaccinated people in the U.S. have died and over 30,000 people have had life-threatening reactions to the vaccine. "Millions of Americans trust NPR to provide accurate information about the world and their communities every day; we take this responsibility very seriously. Following his termination, Henry's attorney Catherine Foti said, "Ed Henry denies the allegations referenced in the Fox announcement and is confident that he will be vindicated after a full hearing in an appropriate forum.. In 2016, Henry was demoted by the network from his job as White House correspondent and took a leave of absence following allegations of an extramarital affair with a Las Vegas hostess and stripper. The complaint filed on Monday graphically presents multiple allegations of sexual abuse suffered by Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer at Fox Business, who said that Henry suggested he could help advance her career in exchange for sex. The statement also seeks to slut-shame Ms. Eckhart and suggests that she was asking to be violently raped. You will know when Im done.. The lawsuit says Areu, who was also a frequent guest on Kurtz's "Media Buzz" show, believes Kurtz tried to get her to join him in a hotel room in January 2019, at a time when she reached out to him seeking a full-time job at Fox. The network said it moved aggressively to change its ways after former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and star Bill OReilly lost their job because of accusations by women. Areu alleges in the complaint that Henry sent her "a slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages" including photographs and video. In the suit, Eckhart alleges Henry, who had been an anchor on Americas Newsroom, the networks mid-morning news program, groomed, psychologically manipulated and coerced Ms. Eckhart into having a sexual relationship with him, and that, when she would not comply voluntarily, he sexually assaulted her on office property, and raped her at a hotel where Fox News frequently lodged its visiting employees. The suit says Eckhart was the one who contacted Fox News on June 25, and notified the company she had retained legal counsel regarding her claims against Henry. Fox announced on July 1 that it fired Henry after conducting an internal investigation into Henrys willful sexual misconduct. But Mondays complaint alleged that the network and higher-ups including Fox News president Jay Wallace and Fox Business Network President Lauren Petterson, were already aware of several years-old complaints against the former on-air host, and he continued to receive promotions anyhow. The lawsuit was filed by Jennifer Eckhart and Cathy Areu, the first a former associate producer on Fox Business, and the other a former frequent guest as a news analyst onFox shows. Areu also said she got several lewd messages from Henry. It also says he took naked photos of Eckhart without her consent before the alleged assault. According to the lawsuit, Henry laughed as he took the photographs, and Eckhart pleaded with Mr. Henry to stop, and to remove the handcuffs, and to delete the naked pictures he took of her without her consent. The photographs, the lawsuit suggested, were an intimidation tactic to keep Eckhart silent. The Wigdor Firm declined, informing the investigators that neither plaintiff would be allowed to be interviewed, unless the investigators promised that anything either plaintiff said could not be used in any future litigation or proceeding. All Rights Reserved. There were not sexual harassment claims against Ed Henry at FOX News prior to Jennifer Eckharts claim on June 25, 2020, the spokesperson said. Fox News Mediapraised Scott's performanceon corporate culture issues in a separate statement. Henry released a statement to USA TODAY on Monday through his lawyer, Catherine Foti. I chose to file this complaint because no woman should have to suffer the conduct to which I was subjected, much less the egregious conduct suffered by Ms. Eckhart., In a statement, Fox News said: Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areus claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit. This is not one of those cases," the statement said. Disclosure: Ed Henry is married to NPR Chief Washington Editor Shirley Henry. Henry was fired by Fox in July 2020, after Fox producer Jennifer Eckhart filed a civil lawsuit alleging Henry had raped her. Henry was later added as a co-anchor on Fox & Friends Weekend. I thought, This is my material. "But we have lived this fight long enough to know that the new variants are real and worrisome," Riney added. That evidence includes graphic photos and other aggressively suggestive communications that Ms. Eckhart sent to Mr. Henry., Henry shared his attorney'sstatement on TwitterMonday, adding, "I will fight with every fiber of my being.". A federal lawsuit filed Monday alleges ex-Fox News host Ed Henry raped a woman he had groomed and coerced into having a sexual relationship when she did 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Fox News fined $1 million in New York City settlement of sexual harassment allegations, Bill Cosby released from prison after sex assault conviction overturned by Pa. Supreme Court, James Franco agrees to pay $2.2M to settle sexual misconduct lawsuit filed by former students, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Eckhart's complaint alleges that Henry "preyed upon, manipulated and groomed her," coercing her into sexual intercourse. Areu, who was a regular guest on The Sean Hannity Show and Tucker Carlson Tonight until 2018, also accused host Sean Hannity of conducting a mock dating auction with her as the prize. According to the lawsuit, the messages in Areus possession from Henry include a closeup photograph of a womans vagina being clamped closed by four clothespins; a photograph of an individual wearing a mask that has a large penis in lieu of a nose; a photograph of a vibrator faux smoking a cigarette; a photograph with a woman with her mouth open and tongue extended, with a mans hands pulling her towards his midsection, captioned In case you wondering the male g-spot is located at the back of a womans throat; a photograph of a womans rear end and vagina modified to include the features of a bunny rabbit (this was sent for Easter); a woman wearing nothing but three masks, in which her entire body is exposed other than her breasts and vagina; [and] a photograph of a rubber glove where each finger appears to be a dildo and/or ribbed like a condom., Henry also sent Areu, the complaint alleged, a video of a woman running across the room and jumping towards a cameraher skirt lifts up and the video ends with a closeup of her vagina; and a video entitled Fastest Interview candidate selected in 3 seconds. 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