'Ghost of Fox News’ past' reemerges — will rep herself in new sexual misconduct lawsuit
Former Fox News pundit Andrea Tantaros hasn't been in the headlines very much recent months. But according to Daily Beast reporters Justin Baragona and Corbin Bolies, Tantaros has reemerged with a new lawsuit against her former employer—and this time, she is "representing herself in court."
"A ghost of Fox News' past has come back to try and haunt the conservative cable giant," Baragona and Bolies explain in an article published on December 11. "Andrea Tantaros has revived her longstanding, twice-dismissed claims against the network, filing a new case alleging she was subjected to sexual misconduct from multiple execs and on-air stars, forcible touching and groping, gender and sex discrimination, and gross and purposeful negligence."
The Beast reporters continue, "Additionally, she asserts that Fox News tampered with and illegally accessed her computer — part of alleged retaliation against her for complaints about harassment by late Fox News founder Roger Ailes — and that she was wrongfully terminated for speaking up."
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For six years, Tantaros had a reputation for being a far-right firebrand at Fox News — which she joined in 2010. The Allentown, Pennsylvania native went on to become a co-host of "The Five" and "Outnumbered," but in 2016, Fox News took her off the air. Tantaros filed two sexual misconduct lawsuits against Fox News, both of which were dismissed in court.
Baragona and Bolies report that in Tantaros' new lawsuit, she "claims she was harassed or groped by" the late Roger Ailes and others at Fox News.
Tantaros was the target of a lawsuit by her former editor Michael Krechmer, a.k.a. Michael Malice.
Malice has alleged that he was a ghost writer for Tantaros' anti-feminist book "Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable" — and that he wasn't paid the full amount he was owed. Tantaros, in response, has alleged that Fox News was behind Malice's lawsuit.
READ MORE: Smartmatic attorney expects 'full retraction' from Fox News along with a sizable payout
"Once a highly vocal presence on TV and social media," Baragona and Bolies note, "Tantaros has largely gone silent over the past five-plus years, save for some recent tweets about the Israel-Hamas War and some in-court beefing with right-wing edgelord Michael Malice."
2023 has been a tumultuous year for Fox News, which in April, agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit. On top of that, Fox News fired its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. And the right-wing cable news channel is still facing a $2.7 million defamation lawsuit by Dominion competitor Smartmatic.
Like Dominion, Smartmatic alleges that Fox News defamed them by promoting the false, repeatedly debunked claim that its equipment was used to help now-President Joe Biden steal the 2020 presidential election from then-President Donald Trump.
READ MORE: How Fox News initially rejected Trump’s Big Lie — before shamelessly promoting it: report
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