Tucker Carlson‘s longtime executive producer at Fox News was sued on Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting another Fox employee in 2008.
Justin Wells was a producer of “On the Record” with Greta Van Susteren at the time of the alleged assault. The accuser, Andrew Delancey, alleges that Wells lured him to his apartment in New York, and then pushed him onto a bed and forcibly grabbed his genitals.
“Defendant Wells quickly began unbuttoning and trying to rip off Mr. Delancey’s jeans as the sexual assault progressed,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Delancey was in complete shock. He yelled out, ‘no!’ and mustered up the strength to physically slow down Defendant Wells’s physical attack.”
At the time, Delancey was a producer for Fox News Edge, which provides content to local Fox affiliates. According to the suit, Wells had higher status at the network, and had told Delancey that he would help him “learn the ropes.”
According to the suit, Wells showered Delancey with Fox-themed merchandise, including monogrammed pencils and notepads, when Delancey first arrived at the job in New York. He also offered career support, helping to arrange an interview for a higher-paying job and offering to put in a “good word” for him.
After Delancey had been on the job for a month, Wells invited him out for drinks with coworkers, the suit alleges. Delancey alleges that before going to the bar, Wells first asked him to come up to Wells’ apartment for a “pre-game” cocktail of vodka and cranberry juice.
According to the suit, Delancey had finished about half the drink when Wells forced him onto the bed, groped him, and forcibly put his tongue in Delancey’s mouth. After Delancey fought him off, they both went upstairs to a rooftop deck, according to the suit.
In the stairwell, Delancey alleges, Wells again grabbed his genitals and tried to unbutton his jeans. Delancey again said no and pulled away.
“Wells was clearly annoyed by Mr. Delancey’s continued refusal to submit to Wells’s aggressive sexual assaults,” the suit states. “Wells told Mr. Delancey that he no longer wanted to accompany him to the Barracuda Lounge. Relieved that he could get away from Wells, Mr. Delancey hurriedly left.”
After that, Delancey alleges that his career progression halted at Fox. He ultimately went back to a job at the affiliate in Tampa.
Wells’ attorney, Harmeet Dhillon, denied the allegations in a statement.
“This meritless legal action was filed 15 years after the alleged incident and mere days before the extended statute of limitations would have run,” Dhillon said. “Mr. Wells denies the allegations unequivocally, and will contest them vigorously. This is yet another attempt by a law firm with a history of suing Fox and its former employees to cash in on frivolous allegations.”
Delancey is also suing Fox News, alleging that the network is a place where “sexual harassment notoriously runs rampant.” The suit alleges that a Fox manager discouraged reporting sexual impropriety to human resources, and that the company had failed to properly handle an earlier complaint against Wells.
Wells later became Carlson’s “right-hand man,” serving as his executive producer until Carlson was ousted this past April. Wells was also let go at the same time, and has since gone on to work on Carlson’s show on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Carlson issued a statement saying he does not find the allegation to be credible.
“As a general matter, if you believe you’ve been the victim of a sex crime, you have a moral obligation to alert police, so it doesn’t happen to someone else,” Carlson said. “If you wait 15 years to cash in with a civil suit, no one should take you seriously. I certainly don’t.”
Delancey now lives in Ohio. His attorneys initially filed a summons in New York state court on Nov. 22, without attaching a full complaint, under the state’s Adult Survivors Act.
The act created a one-year window to bring sexual assault complaints that would otherwise be too old under the statute of limitations. That window expired on Nov. 24.
Fox News has since removed the case to federal court in New York, on the grounds that the plaintiff and defendants reside in different states. Delancey’s attorneys responded by filing the full complaint in federal court on Monday.
Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
