Fox Nation host Britt McHenry has escalated her battle with Fox News over sexual allegations against her former cohost, “Tyrus,” and has now sued the network in federal court.

You may recall that last month, McHenry filed a sexual harassment complaint with New York State's Division of Human Rights against Fox. Apparently, she remains dissatisfied with the network’s response to her allegations.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

In a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York by attorney Lisa Bloom, McHenry says that the network did not respond appropriately and sought to punish her after she accused an on-air colleague, the Fox Nation host Tyrus, of sexually harassing her. McHenry is demanding a jury trial.

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McHenry says that Fox News responded to her complaints against Tyrus by "refusing to investigate some of her claims, shunning her, shutting her out of company events, and refusing to allow her on Fox News Channel shows. ... When Ms. McHenry complained to Fox News Human Resources and management, Fox News asked what Ms. McHenry did to provoke her harasser."

On Tuesday evening, Fox News released the following statement: “Ms. McHenry’s lawsuit recycles the same allegations she filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights in October, to which we filed a response on Friday. As we have previously stated, Ms. McHenry’s allegations have been fully investigated and we are confident our actions will be deemed entirely appropriate in litigation. We expect all of her claims to be dismissed.”

An article in Vanity Fair, written by former Fox reporter Diana Falzone (who sued Fox News for gender discrimination and later settled) provides some disturbing details about the behavior of George Murdoch, who is better known as “Tyrus”:

In her suit, McHenry says Murdoch’s inappropriate behavior began shortly after their first meeting in August 2018 at a dinner hosted by the network. McHenry and Murdoch were slated to cohost Un-PC, which would launch in November 2018. In October 2018, according to the suit, Murdoch began sending McHenry sexually charged text messages. “I love pony tails and braids you look amazing and itʼs a real turn on not that you care but I love it,” one read, according to the lawsuit. Another read, “I’ll show you what it mean to be bad Britt Mc Henry”//Dick pic coming in 5 sec!!!!” Murdoch allegedly sent the following messages over the course of two months: “I love your legs”//“Fuck them your beautiful I love that picture”//“Is it creepy how I look at you ???”//“FYI you’ll need those legs to escape from me in Montana”//“I please especially on your knees hotness”//“I love the fact your always working if we ever had sex I feel like after an orgazzum you say speaking of feeling good did see the story on the puppy rescue we should do a segment on it hand me my phone.” (In a letter to McHenry’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, obtained by Vanity Fair, Murdoch’s lawyers said Murdoch was reviewing his legal options, “including potential defamation litigation,” in response to McHenry’s claims.

Falzone also provides some insider info:

A source with knowledge of the situation told me that Murdoch’s behavior was “referred to as ‘that’s just how he is,’” and that he was characterized at the network as “difficult.” The source added, “Multiple people witnessed him curse at McHenry on set. He was never punished for that either. He was never suspended for anything, to my knowledge.”

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“Roger Ailes is gone,” [a Fox] insider added, “but the people who enabled his actions are still very much there.”

The culture that enabled Ailes, said a source familiar with the situation, is still in place as well. “At Fox alone there are three men who’ve all engaged in extramarital affairs—two of those affairs with employees at work—who saw no real consequence for their actions,” she said. “All three are heavily promoted while countless women...are shown the door with their careers derailed.” (Fox did not respond to a request for comment.)

One of those three men referenced above was surely Fox & Friends cohost Pete Hegseth. He had an affair and a child with his show’s then-producer, Jennifer Rauchet. Here’s what I wrote when she became his third wife, in August, at a Trump golf club.

Although Hegseth holds himself up as a champion of “traditional values,” he previously claimed that his second wife, with whom he also conceived an out-of-wedlock child, was his “ultimate.” He later divorced wife number two a month after his child with Rauchet was born. Hegseth and Rauchet, the former executive producer of Fox & Friends, reportedly began living together before either of their divorces was final. According to Mediaite, each has three children from previous partners (this is Rauchet's second marriage). Fox News family values on display!

As for Rauchet, she is now Fox Nation’s executive producer and one of the defendants in McHenry’s lawsuit. THR reported, "When McHenry took her complaints about Tyrus to Rauchet for the third time, the producer allegedly told her that she was 'replaceable' and that 'Fox News had never wanted her.'"

(McHenry image via screen grab)