Just a few weeks after his suspension over charges of sexual harassment ended, Fox Business host Charles Payne has been accused of raping Scottie Nell Hughes, the woman he allegedly harassed, in a new lawsuit against Fox News, Payne and others. Updated with Fox's response.
The details of the complaint are very, very salacious and rather disturbing:
67. On or about July 9, 2013, Ms. Hughes accepted Payne’s invitation to accompany him to a Manhattan museum, after which the two shared a taxi back to Fox’s headquarters at 1211 Avenue of the Americas. During this ride, Payne pressured Ms. Hughes to give him her hotel room information. She refused.
68. Over the next several hours while at Fox’s headquarters, Payne persisted in forcing Ms. Hughes into giving him her hotel room number. When she continued to refuse, Payne expressed his anger. Eventually, by way of his pressure and insistence, Ms. Hughes agreed that he could come to her room in order to speak privately.
69 hat night in her room, Payne sexually assaulted and raped Ms. Hughes.
70. Rape is forcing another person to engage in sexual activity the person does not agree to; including forcing a body part or object into a female’s vagina, rectum or mouth against her will. Ms. Hughes clearly told Payne to “stop,” and that she was not willing to have physical contact with him. Not willing to stop when she said “no,” Payne forced her to engage in sexual intercourse against her will.
71. During his violent tirade, Payne said, “you know you want this,” and “you’ve been teasing me since that first time on set, wearing those short dresses over those long legs with your big boobs hanging out.” When Ms. Hughes again said, “no,” and said that she just “wanted to be friends,” Payne became more incensed, tightened his grip on her and angrily said, “You have a bright future but you’re not acting like you have the priorities I thought you did; come on girl, you know you want it.” She tried to push him away but Payne was too strong. Fearing that he would cause her irreparable physical harm, Ms. Hughes stopped physically fighting back. After he raped her, Payne disturbingly announced on his way out, “This changes things.”
72. Shocked, humiliated and afraid to speak out, Ms. Hughes told no one about what happened.
73. After the sexual assault, Payne’s invitations to Ms. Hughes to appear on Fox programs increased dramatically.
The suit also alleges that Dianne Brandi, executive vice president of legal and business affairs at Fox News, and Irena Briganti, executive vice president of corporate communications, retaliated against Hughes after she made her confidential accusations against Payne by releasing her name to the National Enquirer and telling the paper that Hughes was engaged in a romantic affair with Payne. Brandi, Briganti and Payne are each named as personal defendants in the lawsuit.
You can read the full complaint below.
Stay tuned!
(Hughes image via screen grab)
UPDATE: Mediaite reported it had received this statement from Fox:
“The latest publicity stunt of a lawsuit filed by Doug Wigdor has absolutely no merit and is downright shameful. We will vigorously defend this. It’s worth noting that Doug is Ms. Hughes’ third representative in the last six months to raise some variation of these claims which concern events from four years ago, since it apparently took some time to find someone willing to file this bogus case.”
Mediaite also reported the following as per "a source with knowledge of the situation:"
The source added “when Fox News refused to [hire Hughes as a contributor], knowing that the two [she and Payne] had a consensual affair, Hughes shopped a draft complaint along with her story to the LA Times. Payne was suspended and reinstated after the evidence showed that he and Hughes had a consensual affair.” Hughes declined several requests to participate in an investigation by Fox News’s counsel (Paul Weiss), refusing to turn over all her emails, let alone to be interviewed.
The Wigdor law firm provided this response, which was also sent to us in an email:
"Fox cannot spin its way out of this crisis – especially when only Fox is to blame for what happened. Regardless of the fact that the sexual assault and rape, as alleged, happened in 2013, the events exposing Fox’s liability exposure (as opposed to Payne) occurred less than 2 months ago when Fox Executives at the highest levels leaked Ms. Hughes’s name to a tabloid. The "representatives" that Fox refers to in its statement include her agent and a lawyer not admitted in NY, so the suggestion that Ms. Hughes was shopping for a lawyer is yet another desperate attempt at avoiding the real issues and blaming the victim. Sadly, nothing has changed at Fox."