Judge Andrew Napolitano is out at Fox News over the allegation he sexually harassed a male staffer.
“John Fawcett, who works on the Kudlow show hosted by Larry Kudlow on Fox Business Network, is suing the network claiming he was sexually harassed by Napolitano,” reports the Daily Mail.
Fawcett, who’s 27, claims Napolitano “stroked his arm and made suggestive comments while they were on an elevator together.”
After an internal investigation and the public airing of the allegations, Fox fired the former judge.
The lawsuit, which is against Fox, states, “Even though the two had never met previously, Judge Napolitano stood awkwardly close to the plaintiff, started stroking his arm, and asked who the plaintiff worked for.”
“You see these hands?” the lawsuit claims Napolitano suggestively said to Fawcett. “They look clean, but they get really dirty.”
“It was common knowledge that Judge Napolitano sexually harassed young men at Fox News, and it had even happened to one of the plaintiff’s co-workers,” the lawsuit reads. “The plaintiff did not initially report the incident to human resources, however, because he did not want to jeopardize his career at Fox, but he did tell Mr. Dobbs.”
More from the Daily Mail:
Fawcett told Dobbs who in turn reported allegations to Fox’s chief human resources officer, Kevin Lord, who is alleged to have responded dismissively: ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’
Fawcett claims the network did nothing to intervene despite there being two similar outstanding lawsuits against Napolitano.
He has said executives ‘will bend over backwards to protect such behavior so long as it is perpetrated by senior management or prominent on-air personalities.’
The lawsuit adds Fawcett heard Larry Kudlow “use slurs and make sexually inappropriate remarks ‘in front of multiple staffers.’” This included suggesting a “three-way” with another Fox anchor.
“No, no, no, I don’t want the black on the show,” the lawsuit accusing Kudlow of saying about a congressman.
Although Fox did fire Napolitano, the cable news network also accused Fawcett of looking for a big payout.
This is not the first accusation against Napolitano, who was sued last year for an alleged 1988 incident, which Napolitano denied. Fawcett’s lawsuit also claims two other harassment suits are pending against the former judge.
Even if true, the Fawcett allegation seems like a bit of a stretch. I’m no Napolitano fan, and he’s certainly no loss to Fox News after his serial Trump meltdowns, but to fire a guy and disgrace him for life over a single incident of flirting seems a bit over the top. But maybe there are additional allegations. Maybe the investigation turned up a real problem.
Regardless, as a political and legal commentator, Napolitano was totally useless and a straight-up embarrassment. Over and over again, he spread wild-eyed conspiracy theories about Trump and his family. Over and over again, in his loony zeal to hurt Trump, he spread misinformation.
At one time, Napolitano was a fairly interesting commentator. Even when I disagreed with him, he was at least thoughtful. But then, for whatever reason, like many others in the media, Trump so unwound the judge he repeatedly sold out his integrity and credibility.
Napolitano might not deserve to go down in a flame of harassment disgrace, but I’m sure not going to miss him.
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