Fox News stars Hannity, Carlson, others named in sexual harassment lawsuit
Fox News Channel stars Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and
Howard Kurtz were accused of sexual harassment by a frequent on-air guest in a
lawsuit filed Monday that the network called frivolous and untrue.
In the same case, a former Fox employee said she was
harassed and raped by news anchor Ed Henry, who was fired July 1 shortly after
the network became aware of the accusations.
Henry's lawyer, Catherine Foti, said Monday that her
client's accuser, Jennifer Eckhart, initiated and encouraged a sexual
relationship.
Hannity and Carlson represent two-thirds of Fox's lucrative
prime-time lineup, while Kurtz hosts the weekend "Media Buzz" show.
None of the men have been mentioned before in any misconduct allegations at Fox
until the charges were made by Cathy Areu.
The lawsuit filed in New York describes Areu's discomfort
with a March 2018 incident on the set of Hannity's show where the host
allegedly put $100 on a desk and challenged the men on his staff to take her
out on a date.
She said she was a guest on Carlson's show in December 2018
and that after it was over, he told her he was staying in a hotel room in New
York that night without his wife and children. In 2019, she said Kurtz invited
her to his hotel room to discuss her hope of getting a full-time job at Fox.
When she instead invited him to dinner with her and a friend, he declined, she
said.
In the cases of Carlson and Kurtz, Areu believed the men
were making sexual advances, the lawsuit said. Areu said she was also
propositioned by Gianno Caldwell, a Fox contributor.
Based on an outside law firm's investigation, Fox said it
found all of Areu's claims "false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid
of any merit." Fox said it would defend itself vigorously.
Areu also said she got several lewd messages from Henry. But
it was the accusations made by Eckhart, a former employee, that led to the
anchor's dismissal. Her allegations weren't made public when Henry was fired.
Eckhart, who was 24 at the time, said the 49-year-old Henry
restrained her with metal handcuffs, took nude pictures of her and raped her in
a hotel room. She said that he had asked Eckhart to be his "sex
slave" and "little whore" and punished her when she did not
comply with his demands.
Foti said Henry had received graphic photos and suggestive
messages from Eckhart.
"The Me Too movement has helped to bring to light a
number of injustices in our society, and everyone that has suffered deserves to
be heard," Foti said. "This is not one of those cases."
Eckhart's lawyer, Michael Willemin, accused Foti of trying
to "slut-shame" Eckhart and suggest "that she was asking to be
violently raped. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The lawsuit said that Fox knew that Henry — who took a
four-month leave of absence in 2016 following published reports of his affair
with a Las Vegas cocktail waitress — had engaged in sexual misconduct as far
back as 2017. Fox said there were no sexual harassment claims against Henry
until they learned about Eckhart's allegations last month.
Fox said Eckhart's case is with Henry, since the network
moved swiftly to fire him.
Being targeted again by Douglas Wigdor's law firm, well
known for its pursuit of sexual misconduct cases, is an uncomfortable rerun for
Fox. The network said it moved aggressively to change its ways after former Fox
News Chairman Roger Ailes and star Bill O'Reilly lost their job because of
accusations by women.
"Fox News would have the public believe that it is a
different place from the Fox News that was run by ... Ailes," the lawsuit
said. "Unfortunately, it is actually worse."
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