A civil lawsuit has been filed on Monday against four prominent Fox News commentators by two of their co-workers, accusing them of sexual misconduct and harassment, per the Associated Press.
The lawsuit was filed by Jennifer Eckhart, who was a former FOX Business producer and Cathy Areu, who was not employed by FOX News but appeared as a guest.
According to NPR, Eckhart claims that former Fox News anchor Ed Henry had promised to help advance her career in exchange for a sexual relationship. The lawsuit contained graphic allegations.
Areu said that she was also harassed by Henry. She also accused Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz of sexual misconduct, according to NPR.
Fox News sent a full statement on the matter to the Deseret News:
“Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areu’s claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit. We take all claims of harassment, misconduct and retaliation seriously, promptly investigating them and taking immediate action as needed — in this case, the appropriate action based on our investigation is to defend vigorously against these baseless allegations. Ms. Areu and Jennifer Eckhart can pursue their claims against Ed Henry directly with him, as FOX News already took swift action as soon as it learned of Ms. Eckhart’s claims on June 25 and Mr. Henry is no longer employed by the network.”
Henry was fired from the network at the beginning of July, shortly after the claims were made and an investigation was started, according to the New York Times.
In a statement per NBC News, Henry’s attorney, Catherine Foti, said “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. This is not one of those cases,” adding that the allegations were “fictional.”
Eckhart and Areu are represented by Douglas Wigdor, who has experience dealing with suits regarding sexual harassment in the workplace and has also worked with cases against Fox News in the past, according to NPR.
Over Twitter, Eckhart addressed her decision to speak out saying, “My decision to speak out was not an easy one, but I refuse to let fear of retaliation, victim shaming and further attacks intimidate me into remaining silent.”