After former Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) was named by former Fox host Andrea Tantaros in a sexual harassment suit, he e-mailed the Boston Globe calling the allegations “false.”
As we wrote yesterday, Tantaros named Brown as one of many men who sexually harassed her at Fox News:
According to Tantaros, Brown “made a number of sexually inappropriate comments to Tantaros” with her on Outnumbered. “After the show was over, Brown snuck up behind Tantaros while she was purchasing lunch and put his hands on her lower waist. She immediately pulled back, telling Brown to ‘stop.’” (Paragraph 44)
Tantaros’ complaint also alleged that Brown said she would be “would be fun to go to a nightclub with.” Brown was not named as a defendant in Tantaros’ lawsuit.
From The Boston Globe:
“Her statement about our limited on-air, green-room interactions are false,” Brown said. “There were never any circumstances of any kind whatsoever in which I had any interaction with her or any other employee at Fox, outside the studio.”
[…]
Brown told the Globe that all of his interactions and contacts with Tantaros were in the New York studio, “and always in full view of all staff, personnel, and talent.” Any chance encounters at a restaurant or other public places were “professional and cordial,” he said.
“In the three years I have been working there, I treat all people there the same, whether they be male or female,” Brown said. “In addition, I don’t go to clubs.”
In his Reliable Sources newsletter last night, CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote:
“There is, to be blunt, a tremendous amount of skepticism inside Fox News about these charges.”
Stelter also found a “glaring inaccuracy” in the complaint: that TVNewser was “created and controlled by” Roger Ailes, the now-deposed head of Fox News. Stelter, who founded TVNewser while in college, ought to know. He says Tantaros’ attorney has apologized.
But Stelter also noted that what Tantaros wrote about Fox’s notorious P.R. department rings true:
Still, the aggressive approach of Fox News P.R. is legendary in TV news, politics and spokespeople circles, which is why the accusations in the Tantaros lawsuit have tongues wagging.
[…]
I know from personal experience that Ailes’ P.R. people, particularly in the Lewis era, sometimes trashed Fox hosts and commentators and used the press to punish them for perceived slights and screw-ups.
[…]
So some of the assertions in the Tantaros lawsuit line up with the experiences of media reporters who have covered Fox for years.
So whether Tantaros’ accusations against Brown are true or not, this thing surely ain’t over, folks.
Scott Brown graphic by DonkeyHotey, via Creative Commons license, slightly cropped.
Who knows. I wasn’t there, but it doesn’t sound like a lay-down misere to me.
He also showed up on the sexist “Bernie and Sid Show.” Another safe stop to see how his shtick flies:
“Scott Brown defends himself against sexual harassment charges—in sexist interview”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/08/24/scott_brown_defends_himself_against_sexual_harassment_charges.html
Typically, he’d go straight to Fox News for a game of softball but it’s not a topic they want to discuss. ;^)