Allegations of sexual misconduct roiled Fox News for years.
The top-rated cable news network hoped to put these controversies in the past.
But a sex scandal ended with a lawsuit that could force a huge change at Fox News.
Former Fox News host Ed Henry filed a lawsuit against Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott accusing Scott of defaming him as a “sex criminal” after Fox News fired Henry in 2020 after an allegation of rape.
Henry’s lawsuit accused Scott of “lending credence to the false allegations because she was trying to save her own career and burnish her image as a tough, no nonsense female executive who cleaned up Fox News.”
Henry claimed Scott fired Henry to cover up the fact that Fox News President Jay Wallace allegedly carried on an affair with a subordinate.
The lawsuit stated Scott acted as “an instrument to cover up the existence of sexual misconduct at Fox News” and charges that she “had such a well-known history of whitewashing actual instances of ‘willful sexual misconduct’ by Fox News employees, including a widely-known affair between a subordinate and Fox News President Jay Wallace, i.e. the same Jay Wallace who co-signed the public statement that defamed Mr. Henry.”
Fox News responded with a statement restating the case for why the network fired Henry in the first place.
“As we stated one year ago, FOX News Media conducted a thorough independent investigation into Ed Henry immediately after we were made aware of a serious misconduct claim against him by a former employee. Based on the results of those findings, we promptly terminated Mr. Henry’s employment for willful sexual misconduct and stand by the decision entirely. 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 Fox News statement read.
Former Fox News President Roger Ailes suspended Henry in 2016 when reports surfaced that Henry had a nearly year-long affair with a Las Vegas stripped.
That was just the beginning of Fox’s problems with sexual misconduct allegations.
Fox forced out Ailes later that summer after several women at the network – including former Fox and Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson – came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against Ailes.
After that it was off the races as the “culture” at Fox News became a source of scandal.
The following year Fox fired Bill O’Reilly after the New York Times reported on the millions in financial settlements paid out to women accusing O’Reilly of sexual misconduct.
And now Ed Henry’s lawsuit is the latest chapter in a story that Fox News cannot seem to close.
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