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Fox Business Network Host Suspended After Sexual Harassment Allegations Surface

Jul 7, 2017  •  Post A Comment

21st Century Fox has suspended a Fox Business Network host as it investigates allegations of sexual harassment against him. The Los Angeles Times reports that Charles Payne, who hosts the program “Making Money” and appears on other FBN programs, was suspended from the network.

FBN confirmed the news Thursday night, with a rep for the network saying in a statement: “We take issues of this nature extremely seriously and have a zero-tolerance policy for any professional misconduct. This matter is being thoroughly investigated and we are taking all of the appropriate steps to reach a resolution in a timely manner.”

Payne “has acknowledged what he described as a three-year ‘romantic relationship’ with a married female political analyst who frequently appeared on Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel from 2013 to 2016,” The Times reports. “Payne admitted to the extramarital affair in a statement to the National Enquirer published Wednesday that included an apology to his wife, children and friends.”

Payne had a different take on the situation, defending himself on Twitter in a series of posts this morning.

“Days ago a reporter contacted me about (false) allegations and asked for a comment. I gave an immediate reply. He reported story w/out them,” Payne wrote on Twitter. “This was my reply: ‘That is an ugly lie I vehemently deny to my core.  There is a mountain of proof that also proves its a lie.’”

The Huffington Post cites multiple sources naming conservative analyst Scottie Nell Hughes as Payne’s accuser.

“Hughes has told several sources that she feels that Payne, the network and Bill Shine — then co-president of Fox News and Fox Business — retaliated against her after they learned of the relationship, which would be the basis for her sexual harassment claim,” The Huffington Post reports.

The L.A. Times report declined to name Payne’s accuser “because she alleges that she was coerced into a sexual relationship with Payne under threat of reprisals.” The Times cites sources saying that Payne’s accuser, who reportedly aspired to become a paid contributor, alleges that after she ended her affair with Payne, her appearances were drastically reduced.

The Huffington Post reports that the law firm Paul Weiss, which investigated former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment claim against Roger Ailes last year, is leading the internal investigation into Hughes’ claim.

3 Comments

  1. You have an affair for three years and this is harassment? If she was “aspiring” to get a paying gig at Fox, perhaps she was using Mr. Payne to help her cause. I know this isn’t politically correct, but these facts leave a lot of holes that should be filled before accusations are published by reporters. Would this have become this public if it was a white male on an MSNBC morning program?

    • Let’s remember that two wrongs don’t make a right. They don’t even cancel each other out; you just still have two wrongs.
      Fact is that they may have “used” one another, and in a way that’s not illegal or even strictly unethical. But the facts I understand based on this blurb indicate wrongdoing (legally actionable wrongdoing) in the aftermath of the relationship, not in the nature of the relationship itself.
      And let’s not act like CNN and Fox wouldn’t happily report a situation like this at a rival network even if it were a “white male” or a “black female” or a frickin polar bear– a scoop’s a scoop and these guys don’t have each other’s backs. News is competition, pure and simple. That’s why I keep laughing at assertions that the press is in some kind of conspiracy. I mean, do you actually know any journalists? Read papers or watch news? They walk all over each other; what would it take for them to agree on something that was not based in objective fact?
      More than some shadowy “globalist” influence I bet. A LOT more, like a gun to their heads.

  2. Had Fox not cut down her appearances after the relationship stopped there would be no story – but that is not what happened. Appearances do count, particularly at Fox these days.

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