Britt McHenry, a contributor to Fox News hos on streaming service Fox Nation, filed a lawsuit against Fox, its parent company, and multiple employees, claiming that she endured sexual harassment and faced discrimination and retaliation after she came forward with her story. Her case, which was filed today, states that her Fox Nation host, WWE Superstar Tyrus, real name George Murdoch, sexually harassed her. Fox Entertainment Group, Fox Corp, News Corp, Fox Nation head John Finley, and human resources executive Monica Mekeel were also named.
McHenry currently hosts UN-PC on Fox Nation. This is the second case that she's brought against Fox. Earlier this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter, she filed a complaint to New York State's Division of Human Rights. She claims that Fox did nothing to investigate the situation or remedy it. Instead, she was told not to "provoke her harasser" and was shut out of company events and not allowed on certain network shows.
"As a result of her treatment by Defendants, Ms. McHenry has suffered humiliation, emotional anguish, derailment of her career, and significant loss of economic opportunities," her suit states. "Since her sexual harassment complaint, Ms. McHenry has been effectively frozen out by Fox News management. In the past, Fox News managers and executives would check in with Ms. McHenry or stop in to watch her show, but she has not heard from any of them since making her sexual harassment complaint."
McHenry adds that when she brought the situation to the attention of her human resources contacts, nothing was done.
"When Ms. McHenry tried to continue the conversation, Ms. Rauchet physically walked out on her."
Fox considered the situation resolved, saying that it conducted an investigation. McHenry adds that Tyrus sent her explicit messages and persistently made inappropriate statements. He remains employed by the network.
Fox released a statement, reading, "Ms. McHenry's lawsuit recycles the same allegations she filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights in October, to which we filed a response on Friday. As we have previously stated, Ms. McHenry's allegations have been fully investigated and we are confident our actions will be deemed entirely appropriate in litigation. We expect all of her claims to be dismissed."
McHenry has an ally in former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, who tweeted about the case.
"Fox News wants people to believe it has cleaned up its act and is now at the forefront of anti-harassment compliance, but the allegations made by @BrittMcHenry via @dianafalzone & @VanityFair tells quite a different story," her tweet reads. "If @foxnews has really turned the corner, this kind of alleged outrageous behavior wouldn’t still be happening. Fox should also release all women from NDAs they were forced to sign to receive settlements. Only then will there be full transparency and truth."
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