NEW YORK — A new lawsuit accuses fired Fox News anchor Ed Henry of rape and other well-known hosts, including Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, of sexual harassment.
According to The Associated Press, former Fox Business associate producer Jennifer Eckhart and Fox News guest Cathy Areu filed the complaint Monday in New York. The lawsuit claims that Henry sexually assaulted Eckhart in a company building in 2015 and raped her in a hotel in 2017, the Washington Post reported. Although the network said it fired Henry after learning of the allegations, Fox News "intentionally downplayed the severity of the situation" when it announced his termination July 1, the lawsuit says. The network also fired Eckhart in June after learning that she had hired an attorney and intended to pursue legal action, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit goes on to detail Areu's sexual misconduct allegations against Henry, as well as Hannity, Carlson, anchor Howard Kurtz and contributor Gianno Caldwell, the AP reported. Areu claims that Henry sent her sexually explicit messages, and Hannity challenged staffers to ask her out after putting $100 on a desk in March 2018. Later that year, Carlson told Areu that he was staying alone in a hotel in an apparent sexual advance, according to lawsuit. Kurtz also asked her to come to his hotel room in 2019, the complaint alleges. Caldwell propositioned Areu, as well, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, Fox News said it determined that all of Areu’s allegations “are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit,” according to the Post.
“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,” the statement continued. “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.”
Meanwhile, Henry's attorney, Catherine M. Foti, claimed that Eckhart "initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship" with Henry, the Post reported.
"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," Foti said, according to the AP. "This is not one of those cases."
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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