Turns out, sexual harassment isn’t the only harassment Fox News is good at. On Tuesday evening, two black women filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court alleging they were subjected to “top-down racial harassment” while employees in the Fox News payroll department.
From the New York Times:
The women — Tichaona Brown, a payroll manager, and Tabrese Wright, a payroll coordinator — accused Ms. Slater of making numerous racially charged comments, including suggestions that black men were “women beaters” and that black people wanted to physically harm white people. They also said that Ms. Slater claimed that black employees mispronounced words, such as “mother,” “father,” “month” and “ask,” and that she urged Ms. Brown to say those words aloud in a meeting. Ms. Wright said Ms. Slater once asked if her three children were all “fathered by the same man…”
Ms. Brown and Ms. Wright are suing Ms. Slater, Fox News and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, claiming that Ms. Slater’s superiors did little to address her behavior, which created a hostile work environment that resulted in “severe and pervasive discrimination and harassment.” Ms. Wright, who joined Fox in mid-2014 and had spoken up about Ms. Slater’s behavior, was transferred out of the payroll department on Monday, a move the lawsuit described as a demotion. The company described it as a lateral move. While the suit contends that Ms. Brown, who joined Fox in late 2008, was fired on Monday, the company said on Tuesday night that she remained employed. Both women declined a Fox settlement offer, according to the suit.
The suit comes on the heels of a string of sexual harassment claims lodged against the network and its former chairman, Roger Ailes. And that’s just behind the scenes. On air Tuesday morning, Bill O’Reilly criticized to a black congresswoman’s appearance comparing her to James Brown. Earlier this month, CNN reported that another network host, Sean Hannity, pointed a gun at black Fox News contributor Juan Williams on set at Fox News.
