Fox News fires anchor Ed Henry after sexual misconduct allegation
FOX News Channel has abruptly terminated anchor Ed Henry after a former co-worker accused him of what the network described as ‘sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago.’
According to a memo sent to employees on Wednesday morning, an attorney representing a former Fox employee sent a complaint to the network last Thursday. The network responded by suspending Henry, removing him from the air, and launching an independent investigation.
“Based on investigative findings, Ed has been terminated,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace said in the memo.
Henry, 48, who joined Fox from CNN in 2011, was named co-anchor of the morning news show ‘ America’s Newsroom’ in December, hosting the threehour daily show alongside Sandra Smith. He will be replaced with “rotating news anchors” until his replacement is chosen.
Smith announced Henry’s firing in a brief on-air statement Wednesday morning. She told viewers that Scott and Wallace ‘emphasized that we will continue to strive to maintain a safe and inclusive workplace for all employees.’
It appears to be a second offense for Henry, who was off the air for nearly four months in 2016 after In Touch magazine published text messages between him and a Las Vegas hostess and stripper with whom he was alleged to have had a 10-month extramarital affair. Fox insiders say that the latest allegations are unrelated to the 2016 one, which prompted Fox to reassign him from the White House to national politics.
He is a veteran Washington reporter, having spent eight years covering Capitol Hill for Roll Call and then joining CNN in 2006 as a correspondent. He became the network’s White House correspondent two years later, and stayed on that beat when he jumped to Fox News. — The Washington Post