In acomplaintfiled Thursday in the U.S District Court in New York, Henry is seeking actual and punitive damages from NPR correspondentDavid Folkenflik and CNN correspondents Alisyn Camerota and Brian Stelterfor acting with"malice" by "intentionally or recklessly making false statements" about himwhile reporting on his Fox News departure. 1/3. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. None of the men have been mentioned before in any misconduct allegations at Fox until the charges were made by Cathy Areu. Fox has battled allegations of sexual misconduct in the past, including against network chief Ailes, who died in 2017. ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) The father of an Emory & Henry College student killed in a 2020 car crash filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the college on May 16. A federal lawsuit filed Monday alleges ex-Fox News host Ed Henry raped a woman he had groomed and coerced into having a sexual relationship when she did not comply voluntarily. When she instead invited him to dinner with her and a friend, he declined, she said. Kurtz allegedly invited Areu to his hotel room on July 9, 2019, while he was in New York City. She declined but invited him to dinner with her and a friend in town, which he declined. The evidence in this case will demonstrate that Ms. Eckhart initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship. The suit also alleges other Fox News personalities, including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Howard Kurtz and Gianno Caldwell, subjected Areu to inappropriate sexual harassment and retaliation. Eckhart, who was 24 at the time, said the 49-year-old Henry restrained her with metal handcuffs, took nude pictures of her and raped her in a hotel room. Fox News rejected some of the lawsuit in a statement to USA TODAY as "patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit," while pointing to Henry's firing as the "appropriate" response. The lawsuit also includes text messages from Henry to Eckhart, which the suit states were shared with Fox News. Mrs. Cox wrote a manuscript about their experience and sent it to several agents and publishers in the late 1980s, but it was always returned, the lawsuit says. It says that Fox News was notified on June 25 that Eckhart retained legal counsel in connection with allegations of assault and rape against Henry. One former Fox News staffer and one frequent on-air guest at the network filed suit in federal court Monday, alleging they had been harassed individually by Ed Henry, the Fox News anchor who was fired by the cable-news outlet earlier this month following a complaint about willful sexual misconduct in the workplace, and their disclosures threaten to revive an era that the Fox Corp.-owned media company had hoped to put behind it after the ouster of Roger Ailes. The lawsuit alleges that Henry raped Eckhart at a Manhattan hotel in 2017 while she was restrained in metal handcuffs. All Rights Reserved. Read Next: Amanda Bynes to Join All That Cast Reunion in First Public Appearance Since Conservatorship Ended: Im Really Excited, AMC Networks Plans In-Person Upfront Session for Advertisers, Craig Ferguson, Sony Hope to Chart Late-Night Return With Syndicated Channel Surf, CNN Considering Content Contributions From Bill Maher, Warner Bros. The lawsuit, some of it so graphic that it includesa "trigger warning" notice, was filedin federal civil court in the Southern District of New York. Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry prepares to do a stand-up in the Brady Briefing Room of [+] the White House in Washington, D.C. Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox Business associate producer, alleges in the suit that Henry preyed upon, manipulated and groomed her and sexually assaulted her on company premises when she did not comply, further accusing him of raping her at a hotel the network used to lodge visiting employees. The filing comes ahead of the September 10 Carlson is already in hot water after his top writer resigned earlier this month when it was revealed he had for years posted bigoted content on online message boards under a pseudonym. NEW YORK (AP) Fox News Channel stars Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz were accused of sexual harassment by a frequent on-air guest in a lawsuit filed Monday that the network called frivolous and untrue. The lawsuit also alleges that Henry sent Areu a series of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages throughout the first half of 2020. Fox News issued a statement on behalf of Hannity, Carlson and Kurtz, calling the claims in the suit "false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit.". The explosive allegations are contained in court papers filed Wednesday by Henrys attorney Brian M. Block of Mandelbaum Salzberg in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, where Scott lives. 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 Areus claims against Fox News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit," the network said in a statement to USA TODAY. This story was updated on July 22 to include a later statement on Monday from Fox News. As we know having watched the Weinstein trial (and represented many of his victims), that myth simply is not true. One former Fox News staffer and one frequent on-air guest at Henry was fired by Fox in July 2020, after Fox producer Jennifer Eckhart filed a civil lawsuit alleging Henry had raped her. In the complaint, filed Monday in New York federal court, former Fox News producer Jennifer Eckhart alleged that Henrythe long-time Fox reporter and host of Americas Newsroom who was fired earlier this month for what the network called willful sexual misconductraped and assaulted her and performed sadistic acts on her without her consent that left her injured, bruised and battered with bloody wrists., What this lawsuit reveals is that todays Fox News is the same old Fox News, said attorney Douglas Wigdor in announcing the lawsuits filing. The "America's Newsroom" co-anchor was terminated after Fox News said it received a complaint on June 25 from a former employee's attorney regarding "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago.". Eckharts lawyers also provided in the complaint a series of text messages in which Henry referred to their relationship in graphic terms. A former Fox News reporter and associate producer, along with a frequent guest on the network, have leveled brutal and disturbing sexual-assault allegations against former host Ed Henry as well as harassment allegations against current on-air talent like hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Howard Kurtz. The evidence in this case will demonstrate that Ms. Eckhart initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship.". The lawsuit filed in New York describes Areus discomfort with a March 2018 incident on the set of Hannitys show where the host allegedly put $100 on a desk and challenged the men on his staff to take her out on a date. I currently have another lawsuit in the courts, after Illinois federal judges have ignored every other lawsuit I've filed! USA TODAY has also reached out to CNN for comment. When she declined his "advances," he refused to meet with her about a job. This is not one of those cases., Eckharts lawyer, Michael Willemin, accused Foti of trying to slut-shame Eckhart and suggest that she was asking to be violently raped. In 2016, Henry was demoted by the network from his job as White House correspondent and took a leave of absence following allegations of an extramarital affair with a Las Vegas hostess and stripper. The lawsuit additionally accused Fox News of willfully downplaying the severity of the allegations against Henry in order to protect the networks reputation. Lawsuit Against Fox News Alleges Harassment From Anchors, Sexual Assault From Ed Henry. "Millions of Americans trust NPR to provide accurate information about the world and their communities every day; we take this responsibility very seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is precisely because of these types of attacks that many victims of sexual assault and rape suffer in silence.. Left you bruised, batter, dazed, sated begging for more.. She compared the movie with her manuscript; the lawsuit claims there are at least 108 similarities. FormerFox News anchorGretchen Carlson, one of thewomen who came forward with allegations against Ailes, got a reported $20 million settlement in 2016 after she sued the network, claiming Ailes demoted then fired her when she rejected his sexual advances. Areu alleges in the complaint that Henry sent her "a slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages" including photographs and video. Fox News was trying to avoid taking accountability for what actually happened; namely, that one of its most prominent on-air personalities with a history of multiple sexual harassment complaints sexually assaulted and raped Ms. Eckhart, the suit states. The lawsuit further alleged that Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell repeatedly pressed Areu to date him, using the possibility of an introduction to his friend Ann Coulter as a lure. The company has "worked tirelessly" under Scott'sleadership "to transform the company culture, implementing annual, mandatory in-person harassment prevention training, creating an entirely new reporting structure, more than tripling the size of our HR footprint, conducting quarterly company meetings and mentoring events, as well as executing a zero tolerance policy regarding workplace misconduct for which we engage outside independent firms to handle investigations," the statement said. Moreover, the investigator did not even speak with either of our clients, even though both Ms. Eckhart and Ms. Areu offered to meet with him under reasonable conditions. According to the lawsuit, Henry laughed as he took the photographs, and Eckhart pleaded with Mr. Henry to stop, and to remove the handcuffs, and to delete the naked pictures he took of her without her consent. The photographs, the lawsuit suggested, were an intimidation tactic to keep Eckhart silent. These statistics are according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which is based on alleged reports. Meanwhile, Areu alleges Henry sent Ms. Areu a slew of wildly inappropriate sexual images and messages which are in her possession throughout the first half of this year. She also claims Sean Hannity demeaned her on the set of his show in front of crew and staffers, and alleges Tucker Carlson propositioned her one evening in New York after the broadcast of his primetime program. Has battled allegations of sexual misconduct in the complaint that Henry raped Eckhart at a Manhattan hotel in 2017,... 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