For the second time in less than a month, Fox Sports and one of its executives have been sued for sexual misconduct, with former host Julie Stewart-Binks saying executive vice president of content Charlie Dixon sexually assaulted her in 2016.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Stewart-Binks says that Dixon forcibly kissed her after pushing her against a wall in January 2016.
“Stewart-Binks tried to put everything about Fox behind her and move forward with her new positions within the sports industry, but each time she saw a former colleague from Fox thriving on the national stage while she remained covering smaller markets, a pang of frustration lingered,’ the filing said, which was first reported by the Athletic.
The two had met to discuss a Super Bowl 50 assignment, and Stewart-Binks says she reported Dixon to the company’s human resources, but the executives “egregiously made the deliberate decision to protect Dixon and allow a sexual predator to remain an executive at Fox for nearly a decade.”
Stewart-Binks worked at FS1 from 2013 to 2016 and now works for SportsNet New York, the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and hosts a podcast.
According to the lawsuit, Stewart-Binks was degraded during the meeting at a hotel bar, with Dixon telling her, “You’re not funny, interesting or talented.’ Dixon also told her she was “not capable of handling big moments on TV’ and “You’re not hot enough to be a hot girl on TV.”
Dixon later invited Stewart-Binks to his hotel room, where Dixon ‘swiftly pushed her against the wall and pinned her arms to her side,” the lawsuit said. “With her arms forcefully held down and his body pressed against hers, Dixon tried to force his tongue into her mouth.”
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.