New York Post

WFAN stands by Benigno in harass suit

- By KEVIN DUGAN kdugan@nypost.com

WFAN’s Joe Benigno will be back on the air Monday, the radio station’s owner announced Thursday.

Benigno, 64, on vacation this week, was accused in a bombshell lawsuit this week of sexually harassing a former female ad executive — allegedly pressuring her on several occasions into “threesomes” and then damaging her career after getting rebuffed.

“He’ll be back on the air next week as per usual,” Esther-Mireya Tejeda, a spokeswoma­n for Entercom, which owns the station, told The Post.

Benigno co-hosts a daily WFAN show with Evan Roberts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Roberts addressed the lawsuit when he opened up Thursday’s show by saying he was aware of the suit — but couldn’t comment on it.

The company has said it will fight the allegation­s made by former ad sales executive Laura Lockwood that the station, owned by CBS Radio during her 2006 to 2017 tenure, was run like a frat house.

In the suit, Lockwood claims that Benigno tried to pressure her into group sex with his wife and a prostitute, showed her naked pictures of his wife, and then tried to derail her career when she turned him down.

Benigno’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will vigorously defend the claims so that “Joe’s good name is cleared.”

“He’s denying everything she al- leged,” said Aidala, who in the past has represente­d Sid Rosenberg, Benigno’s former co-host, and NFL great Lawrence Taylor.

“[Joe] never showed a naked picture of his wife,” the lawyer said. “That’s absolutely insane. He never propositio­ned her in any way, shape, or form.”

The suit names CBS Radio, which sold the station last year, and two ad executives. Lockwood was fired last year.

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