Two Women Sue Fox News Over Sexual Harassment Claims

Lawsuit

Two women have sued FOX NEWS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL and PREMIERE NETWORKS host SEAN HANNITY, former FOX NEWS CHANNEL anchor ED HENRY, and FNC personalities TUCKER CARLSON and HOWARD KURTZ, alleging sexual harassment.

The NEW YORK TIMES reports that former FOX BUSINESS NETWORK Associate Producer JENNIFER ECKHARDT and CATHY AREU, a frequent FOX NEWS commentator, allege in their lawsuit that HENRY harassed them and coerced ECKHARDT into a sexual relationship that led to a "violent, painful rape" in 2017, and that HANNITY, CARLSON, and KURTZ made "inappropriate and sexually charged" comments in the workplace, including HANNITY allegedly urging male crew members to date AREU, CARLSON telling AREU that he was staying alone without his family in a MANHATTAN hotel room, and KURTZ inviting AREU to meet him in his hotel lobby.

HENRY was fired after ECKHARDT's allegations became public last month. A statement from FOX NEWS responding to the suit denied the claims as "false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of merit," but noted that it had suspended and then fired HENRY, whose own attorney calle the allegations "fictional."

An attorney representing ECKHARDT and AREU told the TIMES that the law firm that FOX NEWS hired to investigate his clients' claims never spoke to them, while FOX NEWS said that its investigators were told that the plaintiffs would talk to them only if the interviews “could not be used in any future litigation or proceeding,” which FOX said it rejected.

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