Guest says she was raped by Fox News host Charles Payne
Scottie Nell Hughes claimed that Fox Business anchor Charles Payne raped her and that the network retaliated against her when she reported it.
On Monday, Fox News was hit with another lawsuit, this one by a woman who claimed that she was raped by a network employee.
Scottie Nell Hughes claimed that Fox Business anchor Charles Payne raped her and that the network retaliated against her when she reported it, engaging in “victim shaming” and leaking untrue and misleading information to the press to suggest that she and Payne had a consensual relationship.
Hughes claimed that she met the “Making Money” anchor in 2013 and that, in July of that year, he “pressured his way into Ms. Hughes’ hotel room for a ‘private discussion’” and raped her.
From there, Payne allegedly held her career over her head, pressuring her into a sexual relationship in exchange for “career opportunities and benefits,” promising that her appearances on Fox would stop if she ended the relationship.
When Hughes finally tried to end the relationship in 2016, Payne “became enraged and physically violent.” Over the next ten months, Hughes claimed that her appearances on the network petered out to nothing, and her booking agent was told she “had an affair with someone at Fox and we were told not to book her.”
Her manager then reached out to a law firm that promised a “business solution” to the problem, promising to speak to Fox executives about the situation. Only a few hours later, her manager got a call asking about a leaked story about the romance between Hughes and Payne, a story that the network had leaked in order to discredit her, she claimed.
In July, Fox did suspend Payne during an investigation, but earlier this month, he returned to his position on-air when the investigation concluded.
