Former Fox News anchor Ed Henry has been accused of “violently raping” a Fox employee and sexually harassing another in a bombshell lawsuit. The suit was filed on Monday by Jennifer Eckhart, a former associate producer at Fox Business and Cathy Areu, a frequent Fox News Network.

Eckhart says Henry handcuffed and raped her in a hotel room back in 2017, after coercing her into a sexual relationship.

From the Daily Mail:

Areu also claims she was sexually harassed by Henry, 49, and several other men at the network – including star anchors Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson and journalists Howard Kurtz and Gianno Caldwell.

The suit describes how Hannity allegedly offered staff $100 to take Areu on a date while she served as a regular face on his primetime show in 2018. The lawsuit names Fox News, Henry, Hannity, Carlson and Kurtz as defendants. Fox News, on behalf of their staff, and Henry have emphatically denied the allegations.

The complaint states, “It is widely documented in the public record that Fox News has not only cultivated and fostered sexual harassment and misconduct, but has consistently accepted and rewarded it. Nevertheless, Fox News would have the public believe that it is a different place from the Fox News that was run by former disgraced Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes.”

A Fox News spokesperson says the network denies the claims and will fight them “vigorously.”

The spokesperson said, “Based on the findings of a comprehensive independent investigation conducted by an outside law firm, including interviews with numerous eyewitnesses, we have determined that all of Cathy Areu’s claims against FOX News, including its management as well as its hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity & Howard Kurtz and its contributor Gianno Caldwell, are false, patently frivolous and utterly devoid of any merit. We take all claims of harassment, misconduct and retaliation seriously, promptly investigating them and taking immediate action as needed — in this case, the appropriate action based on our investigation is to defend vigorously against these baseless allegations. Ms. Areu and Jennifer Eckhart can pursue their claims against Ed Henry directly with him, as FOX News already took swift action as soon as it learned of Ms. Eckhart’s claims on June 25 and Mr. Henry is no longer employed by the network.”

This is a developing story. We will update it as more information becomes available.

This piece was written by Objectivist Staff on July 21, 2020. It originally appeared in Objectivist.co and is used by permission.

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