Fox suspends host after claim of lewd behaviour
Fox News Channel suspended longtime host Eric Bolling, amid a report that he sent lewd texts to female co-workers at the network.
Bolling, co-host of the weekday Fox programme The Specialists and former co-host of The Five, is the latest Fox employee to be accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour in the 13 months since the network was consumed by allegations of sexual harassment against its co-founder and thenchairman, the late Roger Ailes.
According to a report in HuffPost, Bolling, 54, texted a photo of male genitalia to two colleagues at Fox Business Network, and one to a co-worker at Fox News. The website didn’t reveal the names of the alleged recipients, but said they are Bolling’s current and former colleagues. The messages were sent several years ago and were unsolicited, it said.
Fox said it had suspended Bolling “pending the results of an investigation, which is currently underway”. The law firm Paul Weiss, which has conducted a series of investigations into harassment at the network, is investigating the allegations against Bolling.
Last northern summer, Ailes was forced out of his job after former Fox & Friends host Gretchen Carlson filed suit against him. Her suit — quickly settled for US$20 million — unleashed a series of accusations against Fox executives and on-air personalities by women who work at the company.
In April, the network forced out its biggest star, Bill O’Reilly, after the New York Times reported that he and Fox had settled five harassment suits or complaints dating back more than a decade. Network president Bill Shine resigned soon after.
Bolling’s lawyer Michael Bowe told HuffPost that Bolling “recalls no such inappropriate communications, does not believe he sent any such communications, and will vigorously pursue his legal remedies for any false and de- famatory accusations that are made”. In addition to The Specialists, Bolling cohosts a weekend business-discussion programme on Fox called Cashin’ In.
Bolling, a conservative whose recently published book was endorsed by US President Donald Trump, was merciless in his commentary when former Congressman Anthony Weine, was involved in several incidents of sexting, beginning in 2014. After Weiner pleaded guilty in May to federal charges of exchanging lewd messages with an underage girl, Bolling called him “a sick human being, to continue to do this time and time again, continue to get caught, saying he’s not going to do it again, gets caught again.”