In case you missed it, political commentator Scottie Nell Hughes has sued Fox News after alleging that Fox Business host Charles Payne had raped her and that Fox went after her when she came forward.
Conservative pundit Scottie Nell Hughes alleges she was raped by Fox's Charles Payne, blacklisted for reporting it. https://t.co/ePQoNP6Cha
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 18, 2017
More from the New York Times:
In her lawsuit, Ms. Hughes said that Mr. Payne had “pressured” his way into her hotel room in July 2013 and coerced her to have sexual intercourse with him, even though she had refused his advances by telling him “no” and “stop.”
According to the suit, Ms. Hughes was “shocked and ashamed” and did not immediately report the episode. She said that over the next two years she was forced to engage in a sexual relationship with Mr. Payne. In exchange, she said, she received career opportunities, including increased appearances on Fox News and Fox Business and the promise that Mr. Payne would help her land a contributor contract, a job that can pay several hundred thousand dollars a year. Ms. Hughes never became a paid contributor at either channel.
Ms. Hughes, a regular guest on Fox News and Fox Business from 2013 through 2016, asserted that after she ended the relationship with Mr. Payne, the network blacklisted her. After she reported her allegations against him, she said, the network leaked a story to the news media about a romantic affair between Ms. Hughes and Mr. Payne.
In the meantime, Payne is back on the network. And for what it’s worth, his Fox colleague Geraldo Rivera couldn’t be happier about it:
My #FOXNews friends & I welcome back our colleague Charles Payne victimized by a bogus charge motivated by $. Hopefully this ends witchhunt
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) September 19, 2017
Guess we’ll see what happens next …
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