Former Fox News Anchor Ed Henry Accused of Rape

WSJ 7/21/20

Fox News is facing more allegations of sexual misconduct as two women filed a lawsuit Monday in which former anchor Ed Henry is accused of rape and network executives are accused of knowing of his alleged behavior and ignoring it long before he was fired this month.

USAToday reports the lawsuit, some of it so graphic that it includes a "trigger warning" notice, was filed in federal civil court in the Southern District of New York.

It alleges a litany of sexual misconduct, ranging from sexual harassment to forced oral sex, against Henry, as well as allegations of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, discrimination and retaliatory conduct against other network stars, including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Howard Kurtz.

The lawyers representing the accusers declined to comment to USA TODAY on whether the crimes alleged in the lawsuit are being investigated by law enforcement.

The lawsuit was filed by Jennifer Eckhart and Cathy Areu, the first a former associate producer on Fox Business, and the other a former frequent guest as a news analyst on Fox shows.

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.

Eckhart was the anonymous accuser whose allegations against Henry led to his firing on July 1, according to the lawsuit. 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."

Eckhart says in the lawsuit that Henry raped her and "left her injured, bruised and battered with bloody wrists" in a New York hotel room "sometime in 2017" and that Fox executives were informed "in graphic and specific detail" about her claim.

Complaint - STAMPED by paulfarrell1895 on Scribd

Henry released a statement to USA TODAY on Monday through his lawyer, Catherine Foti.

“The MeToo movement has helped to bring to light a number of injustices in our society, and everyone that has suffered deserves to be heard.  This is not one of those cases," the statement said.

"The evidence in this case will demonstrate that Ms. Eckhart initiated and completely encouraged a consensual relationship. Ed Henry looks forward to presenting actual facts and evidence, which will contradict the fictional accounts contained in the complaint. That evidence includes graphic photos and other aggressively suggestive communications that Ms. Eckhart sent to Mr. Henry.”