Bias suit against Fox News grows
Two more plaintiffs join lawsuit alleging racial discrimination
A racial discrimination suit against Fox News Network expanded Monday as the network shuffled executive ranks to get beyond a damaging sexual harassment crisis.
Two additional plaintiffs are joining a suit initially filed six weeks ago in the Bronx Supreme Court in New York against multiple parties, including the network, parent company 21st Century Fox, Fox News and Fox Business Executive Vice President Dianne Brandi, and Judith Slater, a former senior vice president and company controller.
The suit, which now includes 13 former and current Fox employees, alleges the network engaged in “systemic discrimination based on race, ethnicity and national origin.” The newest plaintiffs, Elizabeth Fernandez and Claudine McLeod, both worked in the accounts payable department, which Fernandez departed in 2014 and where McLeod continues to work.
The suit expands as Fox News looks to rebound from an advertiser boycott that led to Fox’s April 19 dismissal of its star host Bill O’Reilly after reports of harassment allegations made against him. Last week, network co-head Bill Shine, who had been mentioned in several lawsuits filed against Fox News for allowing a workplace culture in which sexual harassment and racial discrimination could develop, resigned.
On Monday, 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch announced that Marianne Gambelli would become Fox News’ president of advertising sales. Previously the chief investment officer at Horizon Media, Gambelli spent 22 years at NBC, most recently as NBCUniversal’s president of sales and marketing.
Two weeks ago, two-time Emmy Award-winning and former co-host of Fox and Friends Kelly Wright joined the suit. Wright, who has been at Fox for 15 years, said in the suit, “because he is black ... (he) has been effectively sidelined and asked to perform the role of a ‘Jim Crow’ – the racist caricature of a black entertainer.”
Fernandez, who is Hispanic, and McLeod, who is Panamanian and black, allege they were “subjected to numerous discriminatory comments and conduct by (the former controller) Slater.”