While the firing of Fox News anchor Ed Henry may have been a bombshell, complaints about his sexual misconduct go back to at least 2017.
As I wrote in my post about Henry’s firing, you may recall that he took a “time out” from Fox after salacious details about his extramarital affair with a Las Vegas “hostess” became public, in 2016. At the time, Henry was Fox’s chief White House correspondent. He became co-anchor of America’s Newsroom in late 2019.
NPR’s David Folkenflik reports that the revival of Henry’s career was conditioned on his completion of a sexual addiction rehabilitation program. But at least some of his colleagues remained uneasy:
Several former colleagues tell NPR that over the years, Henry proved aggressively flirtatious with younger, female Fox staffers. He sometimes sent graphic notes and even graphic images to them, according to these colleagues.
In 2017, a written complaint was filed to senior Fox executives warning against giving Henry greater profile on the air, including as a substitute host and anchor, according to a former colleague with knowledge of those events.
The complaint said the prospect of Henry's greater prominence on Fox was crushing for female colleagues after the network had promised sweeping changes following Ailes' ouster.
We don’t know why Fox promoted Henry despite the complaint, but we do know that in early January, Henry was seen wearing a Trump campaign hat while cavorting on a golf course with a Trump donor who boasted about stalking Trump impeachment witness Marie Yovanovitch.
Just saying.
The complaint that got Henry fired involved “willful sexual misconduct” that occurred “years ago, according to the Fox News statement. The newsroom was reportedly shocked and stunned by Henry’s termination.
But I’ll bet there are some women who were not a bit surprised.
Folkenflik noted that Henry has denied the Fox allegations but did respond to other allegations about his behavior:
Henry "is confident that he will be vindicated after a full hearing in an appropriate forum," his attorney Catherine Foti wrote. She did not address the characterizations of his behavior provided to NPR by several former colleagues.
Posted with permission from News Hounds.
