On Sunday, all eyes will turn to Fox for its presentation of Super Bowl LIX.
Behind the scenes, the company is fighting back against a sexual harassment lawsuit raised by a former hairstylist last month.
Fox filed a request Tuesday in Los Angeles to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it by Noushin Faraji, which was first reported by Front Office Sports.
Faraji’s 42-page complaint alleged Fox Sports EVP Charlie Dixon and then-host Skip Bayless touched her inappropriately, including Bayless offering her $1.5 million to have sex with him. The suit also claims host Joy Taylor insulted and mocked her. Separately, former host Julie Stewart-Binks filed a suit in January accusing Dixon of “forcefully” sexually assaulting her. Dixon has reportedly been suspended by the network.
Attorneys for Fox cite the doctrine of “unclean hands,” saying Faraji cannot bring a lawsuit against them because she also engaged in inequitable behavior. The filing claims Faraji “failed to take reasonable steps to avoid or mitigate the damages” she alleges, saying she “had a duty” to do so.
“[Faraji] unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventative or corrective opportunities provided by [Fox] or to avoid harm otherwise, and thus [Faraji’s] claims are barred,” the network’s filing reads. Faraji’s suit says she made multiple complaints to the Human Resources and Employee Relations departments at Fox.
Fox’s filing says that if any of their employees did commit the actions Faraji says they did, they were done “outside the scope of employment and not by agents of [Fox], and thus, [Fox is] not liable for such acts.” And, it says any alleged actions that might be “legally attributable” to the network were “not unlawful inasmuch as the conduct was reasonably and properly based on legitimate business reasons and non-retaliatory factors.” In all, Fox listed 46 reasons why it believed Faraji’s complaint should be thrown out in its entirety.
Representatives for Fox Sports and Faraji did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Awful Announcing was first to post the filing.
Fox executives are set to address the media in New Orleans Thursday ahead of the Super Bowl at 1:00 p.m. local time. They are not expected to comment on the lawsuits, FOS has learned.
“The last thing they want is for this to become a distraction in New Orleans,” a source close to Fox told FOS last month.
