The backlash against Fox News amid numerous allegations of sexual harassment continues thanks to a new lawsuit against the network from political commentator Scottie Nell Hughes. In the filing, she says that she was raped by Making Money host Charles Payne and when she reported it, the network retaliated against her by leaking information about their affair to the media. The New York Times reports:
In her lawsuit, Ms. Hughes said that Mr. Payne had “pressured” his way into her hotel room in July 2013 and coerced her to have sexual intercourse with him, even though she had refused his advances by telling him “no” and “stop.”
According to the suit, Ms. Hughes was “shocked and ashamed” and did not immediately report the incident. She said that over the next two years she was forced to engage in a sexual relationship with Mr. Payne. In exchange, she said, she received career opportunities, including increased appearances on Fox News and Fox Business and the promise that Mr. Payne would help her land a contributor contract, a job that can pay several hundred thousand dollars a year. Ms. Hughes never became a paid contributor at either channel.
In an interview with NYT, she accuses Fox News of leaking her private life’s information to the media, as well as blacklisting her from both Fox News and Fox Business. The blacklisting apparently kept her from professional opportunities in the administration.
According to the lawsuit, Ms. Hughes experienced a sudden decline in bookings across cable news networks in early 2017 and was told by a booking agent that Fox had blacklisted her because she “had an affair with someone at Fox.” As a result, Ms. Hughes said, she was taken out of consideration for positions in the Trump administration.
In June, Ms. Hughes instructed her manager to disclose the details of her allegations to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the law firm investigating sexual harassment issues at Fox News.
Shortly after, the National Enquirer published an article in which Mr. Payne acknowledged and apologized for an extramarital “romantic affair.”
The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and names 21st Century Fox, Charles Payne, Fox News, and two of its executives: the executive vice president of legal and business affairs at Fox News and the executive vice president of corporate communications.