A former Fox Sports hairstylist, Noushin Faraji, filed a lawsuit on Friday alleging sexual harassment by network executive Charlie Dixon and on-air personality Skip Bayless. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, also names Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and FS1 host Joy Taylor as defendants.
The allegations
Faraji claims that Dixon, head of content for FS1, grabbed her buttocks at a party. She alleges that when she told Taylor about the incident, Taylor told her to “get over it.” Faraji also alleges that Bayless gave her “lingering hugs and kisses on the cheek while putting his body against hers and pressing against her breasts.” The lawsuit says that she repeatedly rejected Bayless’ advances, even telling him she was suffering from ovarian cancer.
According to the lawsuit, Bayless offered Faraji $1.5 million to have sex with him and accused her of sleeping with his then-co-host, Shannon Sharpe. The suit includes an alleged exchange where Bayless said: “Aren’t you Muslim? Doesn’t your dad have three to four wives?” Faraji claims she reported these incidents to Human Resources and Employee Relations.
The lawsuit also alleges that Taylor was “insulting Faraji on a personal and professional level” and mocked her pronunciation after their friendship ended.
Seeking class-action status
Faraji is seeking class-action status for herself and other nonexempt Fox employees in California over the past four years. She is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
Sports law attorney Daniel Wallach noted, “Her lengthy tenure at Fox Sports and not-so-thinly-veiled references to multiple anonymous witnesses suggest that she may have the receipts to back up her version of the events.” He added, “Just as importantly, she contemporaneously raised these issues with co-workers, which, in the jurors’ eyes, could boost the credibility of these claims.”
Toxic workplace claims
The lawsuit says, “Ms Faraji brings forth this action because for over a decade at Fox, she was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity.”
It continues, “When Ms. Faraji and others came forward to report the wrongdoing, instead of addressing their concerns, Fox retaliated against them while the perpetrators and those who protected them were inexplicably promoted. This case thus represents yet another in a long line of cases chronicling the toxic culture at Fox, marked by bad faith promises and repeated failures to address a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy.”
The lawsuit follows Bayless’ departure from Fox Sports in August and Sharpe’s earlier exit. While not named as defendants, the suit mentions Fox Sports President and COO Mark Silverman and CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks as potentially being added to the legal action.
Fox Sports responds
Fox Sports responded with the following statement: “We take these allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time given this pending litigation.” Faraji’s lawyers did not provide immediate comment.
