Fox News contributor Britt McHenry has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the network and her former co-host Tyrus.
McHenry, 33, currently co-hostsUN-PCon streaming service FOX Nation. She filed a suit on Tuesday alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation,according tomultiple reports.
“The last thing I wanted to do was file this lawsuit. But I had to stand up for what’s right for myself and for women,” McHenry, who joined Fox News as a contributor in 2018, said in a statement Tuesday.
Britt McHenry.Mary F. Calvert For The Washington Post via Getty
The suit also names Fox Entertainment Group, Fox Corp, News Corp, John Finley (executive vice president of development), Jennifer Rauchet (Fox Nation and Fox executive producer) and Monica Mekeel (senior vice president of human resources).
“Britt McHenry’s bombshell story should not be happening at Fox News in 2019. I am proud to represent her as she demands justice,” Bloom said in a statement.
In response to McHenry’s suit, a Fox News spokesperson said Tuesday, “Ms. McHenry’s lawsuit recycles the same allegations she filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights in October, to which we filed a response on Friday. As we have previously stated, Ms. McHenry’s allegations have been fully investigated and we are confident our actions will be deemed entirely appropriate in litigation. We expect all of her claims to be dismissed.”
Tyrus has since leftUN-PCand currently hostsNuff Saidon Fox Nation.
Tyrus.Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
In a statement to PEOPLE, Tom Clare, an attorney representing Tyrus, said, “Tyrus denies the allegations in the lawsuit and will be defending it vigorously. He looks forward to having a public forum in the court system to clear his name from the smear campaign that had been waged against him in the media. Tyrus will be pursuing defamation counterclaims.”
The December suit comes just days before the release ofBombshell,which tracks the fall of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes after former hosts Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson accused him of sexual harassment.
Bombshell— which stars Charlize Theron as Kelly,Nicole Kidmanas Gretchen Carlson, Margot Robbie as a fictional Fox News employee and John Lithgow as Ailes — chronicles the Fox News women and their allegations against Ailes.
After the release of the upcoming film’s first trailer, Carlson told Entertainment Weekly that “it’s a strange and frustrating reality that I can’t partake in any of these projects based on my settlement, which is why I’m working so hard on Capitol Hill so that nobody else has to be handcuffed anymore.”
“I’m trying to pass the bill to take the muzzle off of women who face harassment in the workplace so that they’re not forced into signing NDAs and have to go to the secret chamber of arbitration where nobody ever knows what the hell happened to them. It’s frustrating cause I can say, ‘Hey wait a minute, you know, that was my life!’ ” Carlson told the outlet.
She added that projects like these can make long-lasting change.
“But the trailer got a tremendous amount of attention and for me, that’s what this is all about. In the end, I can’t participate, but it’s all about continuing the dialogue. And if projects like this and the Showtime miniseries keeps people in our society talking about this issue, then that is amazing,” she said.
On Tuesday, Carlson called out the network over McHenry’s suit.
“2) If @foxnews has really turned the corner, this kind of alleged outrageous behavior wouldn’t still be happening. Fox should also release all women from NDAs they were forced to sign to receive settlements. Only then will there be full transparency and truth. #liftourvoices,” shecontinued.
Bombshellis in theaters Dec. 13.
source: people.com
