Andrew Napolitano out at Fox after sexual harassment allegationsby Jake Dima, Breaking News Reporter | | August 02, 2021
A producer who works on the Kudlow show, hosted by Larry Kudlow on Fox Business, accused Napolitano of engaging in sexual misconduct with "numerous young male" employees, including himself, according to a lawsuit filed in the New York Supreme Court. The producer, John Fawcett, claimed Fox's human resource department and senior executives were aware of the matter but "took no action whatsoever" to remove Napolitano from his on-air role.
“Upon first learning of John Fawcett’s allegations against Judge Andrew Napolitano, FOX News Media immediately investigated the claims and addressed the matter with both parties," a spokesperson for Fox told the Washington Examiner in an email. "The network and Judge Napolitano have since parted ways. We take all allegations of misconduct seriously, are committed to providing a safe, transparent, and collaborative workplace environment for all our employees and took immediate, appropriate action."
Napolitano previously faced allegations of sexual misconduct in separate lawsuits filed by two men last year, including one who accused him of coercing a defendant from his courtroom into giving him oral sex in 1988, which he strongly denied and characterized as smear campaigns.
Monday's lawsuit also asserts “sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and racial discrimination are still tolerated at Fox," as Kudlow “has used ethnic slurs and made sexually inappropriate comments about women in front of multiple staff members, including [Fawcett]." Kudlow, who was director of the National Economic Council during the Trump administration, was quoted as making racist remarks toward Florida Reps. Byron Donalds, a black Republican, and Maria Elvira Salazar, a Hispanic conservative, according to the complaint.
Fawcett further accused Kudlow of remarking he wanted to have a three-way encounter with anchor Sandra Smith before he suggested, “Why don’t we just let the Mexicans in” because America needed more “jalapeño pickers," ahead of an interview with Salazar. Fox disputed the accusations.
"Furthermore, the additional allegations laid out in this claim are completely baseless, and nothing more than a desperate attempt at a payday by trying the case in the court of public opinion as the complaint does not meet the standards of the law," the network said. "We will defend the matter vigorously in court.”
Fawcett's attorney, Ty Clevenger, sued Fox previously as he represents Ed Henry, a former anchor for America's Newsroom who was fired over a year ago. Henry filed a lawsuit in June accusing Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott of defaming him as a "sex criminal" after Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer on Fox Business, accused Henry of sexual assault, including rape.
Henry denied these accusations. He insisted Scott used him as a "scapegoat to divert attention away from her own sordid history at Fox News." At the time, the network responded by calling the allegations "baseless."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/andrew-napolitano-out-fox-news-sexual-harassment-lawsuit
