Ex-Fox News anchor allegedly released explicit photos to shame rape accuser
A former Fox News anchor tried to “humiliate” and victim-shame an ex-staffer who is suing him for rape by releasing sexually explicit images and messages she allegedly sent him, her lawyers claim in a new federal filing.
Lawyers for Ed Henry, who was fired over the allegations in
July, filed a motion to dismiss accuser Jennifer Eckhart’s Manhattan federal
suit and included the raunchy pictures.
Eckhart’s lawyer Michael Willemin blasted Henry and his
attorney Catherine Foti for choosing to “publicly file such personal and
intimate images of Ms. Echkart to humiliate and retaliate against her for her
decision to speak out against sexual abuse.”
In court papers, Willemin called the tactic “blatant victim
shaming” and “simply abhorrent.” The pornographic exhibits have since been
temporarily sealed until the judge makes a final ruling.
In the motion to dismiss, lawyers for the axed co-host of
Fox’s “America’s Newsroom” called Eckhart a “willing, consenting and
enthusiastic participant in their relationship” and supplied the raunchy sexts
and images to prove it.
The photos feature Eckhart’s “naked breasts, photos of
buttocks in a thong, and closeups of her vagina” which were sent before and
after she alleges Henry handcuffed and raped her in a Manhattan hotel in 2017,
court papers allege.
“While raping Ms. Eckhart, Mr. Henry performed sadistic acts
on Ms. Eckhart, which included, among many other things, violently hitting her
in the face multiple times,” according to her complaint.
Eckhart, who worked at Fox Business and names the Fox News
Network in the suit, says the married father of two “preyed upon, manipulated
and groomed” her into a relationship that started in 2014.
Fox News has argued in the filings that Eckhart didn’t
report the rape allegation to the network until after she was fired and her
claims against it should be dismissed.
“As soon as the company learned of the allegations, it
immediately investigated and then terminated Henry within days,” wrote Fox’s
lawyers, who said Eckhart worked in a separate division of the network and was
not under Henry’s supervision.
“Eckhart does not allege any facts to suggest that Fox News
had any prior knowledge of Henry’s alleged abuse, or even that the company
could have known.”
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