Former Fox Sports activities anchor and reporter Julie Stewart-Binks has accused considered one of her ex-bosses on the community of sexually assaulting her on a balcony outdoors his Marina del Rey lodge room in 2016.
A lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket alleges that FS1 govt producer of content material Charlie Dixon held Stewart-Binks towards a wall, “forcefully” pressed his physique towards hers and “tried to pressure his tongue into her mouth” after the 2 initially obtained collectively to debate plans for an upcoming present.
Stewart-Binks ultimately slipped away from Dixon, the lawsuit states, however quickly after the incident her contract with Fox was not renewed. In June 2017, after she had completed working for Fox, Stewart-Binks was interviewed by the community’s human sources division as a part of an investigation into a special Fox govt, in line with the submitting.
Throughout that interview, the lawsuit states, Stewart-Binks knowledgeable HR of the alleged incident involving Dixon and mentioned he was the one they need to be investigating. As a substitute of taking motion, the lawsuit alleges, “Fox egregiously made the deliberate determination to guard Dixon and permit a sexual predator to stay an govt at Fox for practically a decade.”
The lawsuit alleges sexual assault and sexual battery as causes of motion towards all defendants, which embody Dixon, Fox Sports activities and its mum or dad firm, Fox Corp.
The Instances was unable to achieve Dixon by means of Fox Sports activities. Requested by The Instances in regards to the lawsuit and its allegations, Fox Sports activities emailed an announcement: “These allegations are from over eight years in the past. On the time, we promptly employed a third-party agency to analyze and addressed the matter primarily based on their findings.”
Fox didn’t disclose the outcomes of the third-party investigation.
Stewart-Binks was employed as an anchor and reporter for the upstart FS1 in 2013. A few of her duties with the community included internet hosting a each day soccer present, reporting from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and serving because the Geese sideline reporter in 2014. In early 2016, the lawsuit states, Fox Sports activities host Jason Whitlock expressed curiosity in having Stewart-Binks seem on the present he’d be internet hosting throughout Tremendous Bowl week.
In line with the submitting, Stewart-Binks met with Dixon on the night of Jan. 27, 2016, at a lodge bar to debate the manager’s ideas for Whitlock’s present. However the dialog took a weird flip, the lawsuit states, as Dixon made such feedback to Stewart-Binks as “you’re not humorous, attention-grabbing, or gifted” and “you’re not scorching sufficient to be a scorching lady on TV.”
Eventually name, the grievance states, Dixon invited Stewart as much as his room for a beer and to see the view — a suggestion she initially declined however then “reluctantly” accepted.
“As Ms. Stewart-Binks stood on the balcony looking into the darkness, Dixon swiftly pushed her towards the wall and pinned her arms to her aspect,” the lawsuit states. “Together with her arms forcefully held down and his physique pressed towards hers, Dixon tried to pressure his tongue into her mouth. Ms. Stewart-Binks sealed her mouth shut.
“Dixon ignored her, persevering with to press towards her physique and lick her closed mouth. Whereas retaining considered one of her arms pinned, he moved his different arm from urgent her higher elbow towards the wall to her physique and in the direction of her chest. Ms. Stewart-Binks seized the second of partial freedom to push him away, say ‘get off of me,’ and quickly go away the lodge room.”
In line with the lawsuit, Stewart-Binks referred to as her mom on the way in which dwelling and advised her what allegedly had occurred. “The 2 agreed that it might be wiser for Ms. Stewart-Binks to stay silent reasonably than danger the profession she had labored so arduous to construct,” the grievance states.
Stewart-Binks obtained the job for Whitlock’s present, however a number of weeks later she was knowledgeable by her brokers that Fox had determined to not renew her contract. Since then, Stewart-Binks has continued to work within the trade, together with gigs for ESPN and different retailers, however the lawsuit states that “on info and perception, she suspects that after she left Fox, Dixon continued to leverage his connections to undermine her profession.”
Stewart-Binks is looking for unspecified damages, in addition to “injunctive reduction, together with however not restricted to directing Fox to take fast and efficient measures to forestall any present or future sexual assault and battery. At a minimal, this could contain terminating the accountable people, in addition to those that enabled or protected them, with out severance.”
Earlier this month, Dixon, Fox Sports activities and Fox Corp. had been among the many defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by hairstylist Noushin Faraji in L.A. County Superior Court docket. That lawsuit — which additionally named former Fox Sports activities host Skip Bayless and present host Pleasure Taylor as defendants — alleges Faraji “was compelled to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist office the place executives and expertise had been allowed to bodily and verbally abuse employees with impunity” throughout her decade-plus working on the community.
In line with Stewart-Binks’ grievance, she reached out to Faraji after the hairdresser filed her lawsuit to see how she may assist. “Ms. Faraji merely requested that Ms. Stewart-Binks inform her story to the world,” the grievance states.