Ed Henry Sues Fox News, CEO For Defamation
Ed Henry, a former anchor for America’s Newsroom who was fired from Fox News last year just sued Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott for allegedly defaming him as a “sex criminal.”
The lawsuit, which listed Fox News Network LLC as a defendant, was filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. The suit accuses Scott of using Henry as a “scapegoat to divert attention away from her own sordid history at Fox News.” Henry was fired from his role as co-anchor after an investigation into a complaint filed by a “former employee’s attorney involving willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago,”
Henry’s legal team is fighting back claiming there is “overwhelming evidence” that would have cleared him of wrongdoing. “Scott made the allegations despite overwhelming evidence — already in her possession — that the accusations against Ed were false,” said Ty Clevenger, Henry’s attorney.
“We believe she preemptively offered up Mr. Henry as a scapegoat.”
Clevenger added that Scott “threw Ed under the bus to burnish her image as the tough female executive who cleaned up Fox News.”
He added that she covered up an “extramarital affair” between Fox News President Jay Wallace and one of his subordinates while ignoring “texts, emails, and photographs” that Henry offered that would have exonerated him.
“Under the leadership of CEO Suzanne Scott, Fox News Media has worked tirelessly 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,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement.
“No other company has enacted such a comprehensive and continuous overhaul, which notably, earned Fox News Media recognition as a ‘Great Place to Work’ for the first time in its existence, a testament to the many cultural changes that Ms. Scott has instituted during her incredibly successful tenure as CEO.”
“Fox conducted a full and independent investigation of the claims against Jay Wallace — he was cleared of any wrongdoing and the allegations are false,” a Fox News spokesperson said.
“As we stated one year ago, Fox News Media conducted a thorough independent investigation into Ed Henry immediately after we were made aware of a serious misconduct claim against him by a former employee, Based on the results of those findings, we promptly terminated Mr. Henry’s employment for willful sexual misconduct and stand by the decision entirely,” the spokesperson added.
“We are fully prepared to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations as Mr. Henry further embarrasses himself in a lawsuit rife with inaccuracies after driving his personal life into the ground with countless extramarital affairs in a desperate attempt for relevance and redemption.”
Ed Henry sues Fox News CEO for defamation https://t.co/eKd7IPE498
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 6, 2021
More to come. See you tomorrow. ….. Ed Henry Sues Fox News For Defamation – The Hollywood Reporter https://t.co/PeRRhkGSZR
— Ed Henry (@edhenry) June 30, 2021