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Former Fox News worker Jennifer Eckhart filed a lawsuit on Monday in a New York federal court docket towards Fox News and former community anchor Ed Henry, accusing him of raping her.
The criticism says Henry “groomed, psychologically manipulated and coerced [her] into having a sexual relationship with him, and that, when she would not comply voluntarily, he sexually assaulted her on office property, and raped her at a hotel.”
In a press release on Henry’s behalf, his lawyer Catherine Foti mentioned proof would present that Eckhart “initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship.”
In a separate assertion, a Fox News spokeswoman mentioned Eckhart and co-plaintiff Cathy Areu, a community visitor, can pursue their claims towards Henry straight with him, because the community “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.”
The cable information community, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp, mentioned on July 1 it had dismissed Henry after receiving a criticism from the lawyer of a former worker and retained a regulation agency to research.
Monday’s criticism alleges the community knew Henry had engaged in sexual misconduct way back to early 2017.
The Fox News spokeswoman mentioned in a later assertion on Monday: “There were not sexual harassment claims against Ed Henry at Fox News prior to Jennifer Eckhart’s claim on June 25, 2020.”
Areu alleges Henry despatched her “a slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and videos” and steered he would help her profession if she had intercourse with him.
Areu additionally alleges that Fox News anchors Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, host Howard Kurtz and political analyst Gianno Caldwell sexually harassed and retaliated towards Areu.
Asked to touch upon the allegations within the lawsuit, Foti mentioned: “Ed Henry looks forward to presenting actual facts and evidence, which will contradict the fictional accounts contained in the complaint.”
In its assertion the community mentioned that based mostly on an out of doors regulation agency’s investigation that included interviews with quite a few witnesses, it was decided that Areu’s claims towards the community, its administration, Carlson, Hannity, Kurtz and Caldwell are “false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit.”
Reuters was not instantly capable of attain Carlson, Hannity, Kurtz or Caldwell however Fox News mentioned its assertion was a response on behalf of all 4 males. Eckhart was an affiliate producer at Fox Business Network.
In 2016, Roger Ailes resigned as chairman and chief govt of Fox News after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment, prices he denied.
The community agreed to pay $20 million to settle Carlson’s lawsuit.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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