Fox Business anchor Charles Payne has been accused of raping and assaulting Scottie Nell Hughes, a political commentator. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, September 18, Hughes accused the veteran anchor of raping and assaulting her. It seems that Fox News is going through a bad year as there has been a relentless flow of scandals and sexual harassment claims against the company.
Hughes’s lawsuit against Fox is the latest to be filed against the media outlet.
Hughes also claims that she suffered retaliation from Fox when she complained to the authorities.
Apart from that, Scottie has also charged Fox of victim shaming her when she went to report the incident. She further stated that the media outlet leaked false reports of her and Payne having a consensual affair when she first started speaking about her incident.
Political commentator files lawsuit against veteran anchor
According to the official court filings, the 37-year-old political anchor met Payne — the anchor of show “Making Money” — back in 2013. Subsequent to their meeting, Hughes claims that she was called several times to appear on Payne’s show. The lawsuit states that in July 2013 while Hughes was visiting New York for another Fox program, Payne forcibly entered her hotel room to have a “private discussion” with her.
According to the charges, it was then that the political commentator was raped by him.
The lawsuit stated that as Scottie was shocked and ashamed in the aftermath of the incident, she refrained from reporting it to the law enforcement authorities. The court filings also stated that after the sexual assault, Payne used his influence to get Hughes invited several times on his show “Making Money,” as well as other shows.
The court papers alleged that Hughes was forced to maintain a sexual relationship with Payne in exchange for additional benefits and further career opportunities.
According to the lawsuit, this sexually-motivated relationship went on from 2013 till 2016. Apparently, Payne made it clear to Hughes that she will no longer be called on Fox-hosted shows if she ended the relationship.
However, the lawsuit alleges that when she attempted to end the relationship, the veteran anchor became physically violent toward her.
Hughes blacklisted after she severed ties with Payne
Regardless of the threats that Hughes received from Payne, she ended the relationship in 2016. The lawsuit claims that over the next ten months, her bookings for appearances on Fox’s shows reduced before finally drying up. Matters took a turn for the worst when the political commentator was informed by her agent that she was blacklisted from being hired anymore as she had an “affair” with someone at Fox. Following the blacklisting, the lawsuit alleges that the media outlet also leaked an inaccurate story of her relationship with the anchor to others, which led to harassment in her workspace.
