It was just a few weeks ago that Fox Sports was hit with a lawsuit filed by Noushin Faraji, who alleged that executive vice president of content Charlie Dixon had behaved inappropriately with her.
According to a new story from The Athletic’s Katie Strang, Julie Stewart-Binks — the former Fox Sports reporter and host who was once on the receiving end of a lap dance from Rob Gronkowski on the air — has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County against Fox and Dixon, with allegations of sexual assault.
WARNING: Graphic depictions are ahead.
Here’s what we know from the story:
What is Julie Stewart-Binks accusing Charlie Dixon of?
Julie Stewart-Binks alleges Charlie Dixon sexually assaulted her in 2016 as the Super Bowl approached in San Francisco. Dixon asked her to meet at his hotel. They met at a bar where he allegedly said “he didn’t think she should be going to the Super Bowl at all and that she was ill-suited to host and wasn’t funny or interesting or talented enough to draw in viewers.”
After further criticism — “You’re not hot enough to be a hot girl on TV” — there was this:
Stewart-Binks said Dixon’s tone then changed. He stopped criticizing her and asked about her professional aspirations. The complaint states that Dixon then ordered two beers from the bar and urged her to come to his room and drink them, adding that he had a great view from his balcony. She didn’t think it was a good idea, she said in her interview and in the complaint, but she felt she couldn’t say no to her boss.
“You have autonomy over yourself to say ‘no’ and leave. But you don’t, and you say ‘yes’ because he held the power to everything,” Stewart-Binks told The Athletic.
The legal complaint describes Dixon’s shirts – colorful tees with slogans and pictures – laid out on one of the beds in his room. Dixon suggested they step out on the balcony. Once outside, Dixon, according to the complaint, “swiftly pushed her against the wall of the hotel and pinned her arms to her side. With her arms forcefully held down and his body pressed against hers, Dixon tried to force his tongue into her mouth.” Stewart-Binks’ mouth remained shut but Dixon “ignored her, continuing to press against her body and lick her closed mouth. While keeping one of her arms pinned, he moved his other arm from pressing her upper elbow against the wall to her body and towards her chest. Stewart-Binks seized the moment of partial freedom to push him away, say ‘get off of me’ and rapidly leave the hotel room.”
What has Fox or Dixon said about these allegations?
From the story:
Dixon did not respond to text, voice and email messages seeking comment. Fox Sports said in a statement: “These allegations are from over eight years ago. At the time, we promptly hired a third-party firm to investigate and addressed the matter based on their findings.”
Did she report the incident to Human Resources?
She alleges that after the Gronkowski moment, “the network instructed her not to comment on the incident, and her agency, CAA, advised her to ride it out.” Then, she wasn’t getting hired back two months later when the network didn’t pick up her contract option.
When she was asked in 2017 about the behavior of Horowitz, who was fired in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment, she told someone from HR about the Dixon incident.
Was this lawsuit affected by the other one that names Dixon?
Here’s what Stewart-Binks said:
On page eight of the 42-page complaint, there is a reference to a host who reported Dixon to the company. She believed that Faraji, with whom she worked at FS1, was referencing her. Reading about what Faraji allegedly endured was a “tipping point,” Stewart-Binks said. “I didn’t want to hold onto it anymore.”
