Former Fox News host Ed Henry has been accused of sexual assault and harassment of another female colleague.
Knewz.com can reveal a court filing from former Fox News executive producer Jennifer Eckhart unearthed fresh accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Henry.
Eckhart sued Henry in 2020 and accused him of raping her in 2017. While Henry vehemently denied her accusations, Fox News fired him upon learning of Eckhart’s claims.
After Henry was fired, Fox News said in a statement: “Upon first learning of Jennifer Eckhart’s allegations in 2020, Fox News promptly conducted an investigation by an outside independent law firm, which resulted in senior management and HR terminating Ed Henry within six days.”
On Wednesday, Eckhart’s attorney, Michael J. Willemin, filed a 39-page motion opposing Fox News’ motion for summary judgment which included bombshell new claims alleging Henry assaulted another female colleague while employed at the network – and further claimed multiple staffers raised concerns about Henry’s behavior to bosses.
The motion additionally claimed there were other instances of sexual misconduct and harassment from other male colleagues who were said to be still employed at Fox News, according to Mediaite.
Fox News repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and insisted Eckhart “did not tell anyone about her sexual encounters with Henry” and “did not raise any complaints about sexual harassment or retaliation until after her termination from” the network.
Eckhart previously admitted she did not tell anyone about her encounters with Henry until after she was fired in 2020.
In an exclusive statement on Tuesday, the network stated: “Fox News learned about the new assault allegation only during this litigation and that no employees warned executives about Henry engaging in sexual harassment while he was employed at Fox.”
In Fox News’ summary judgment filing, the network “argues that the evidence proves that it did not become aware of any allegation that Henry engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct until after Henry and Eckhart had both left the company.”
Fox News released a statement in response to Eckhart’s latest filing: “After having missed their deadline for filing, the lawyers for Ms. Eckhart are now desperately trying to salvage their case.
“As discovery in this matter has confirmed, FOX News was not aware of any relationship between Ms. Eckhart and Mr. Henry or of any allegations of unwelcome sexual activity by Mr. Henry until after she left the company.”
Eckhart’s lawyer argued despite the network’s continued denial of responsibility, they “knew” Henry posed a “significant risk” based on his past behavior and sexual misconduct allegations, and “failed to investigate” those claims in 2017.
Willemin further accused Fox News of creating a “safe haven for men who engage in sexual harassment and assault”.
Eckhart’s attorney noted Henry’s past behavior included an “affair” he had in 2016 with a Las Vegas stripper, which led the network to suspend him with pay and ordered him to seek treatment for sex addiction.
But Willemin added Henry’s behavior was not limited to “a single consensual affair” and instead a pattern of “workplace sexual misconduct”, which included using a network phone to engage in “a ‘sexting incident’ that the ‘DC Bureau helped Ed cover-up,’ before Fox News learned about Mr. Henry’s affair with a stripper” and a “sexual relationship” with another colleague.
The motion stated: “This sexual relationship, which involved a similar and severe imbalance of power, began in November 2016, after Mr. Henry returned from suspension, and pre-dating the February 2017 rape involving Ms. Eckhart.
The motion said the colleague, whose identity was redacted, “has described Mr. Henry as a ‘predator,’ who used the ‘power imbalance’ to get her to engage in a relationship – including coercing her to engage in sex acts in Mr. Henry’s office – that was ‘predatory,’ ’emotionally abusive’ and ‘not as ‘consensual’ as (she) thought.”
The post ‘Weinstein-Esque, but Worse’: Ex-Fox News Anchor Ed Henry Accused of Assaulting Another Female Colleague appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: Knewz Staff
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