WASHINGTON — Fox News Channel announced Wednesday morning that it has fired anchor Ed Henry after investigating a complaint about "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace." Henry is denying the claims.
In a memo sent to employees, CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox News Media President Executive Editor Jay Wallace said they received a complaint on Thursday, June 25 from a former employee's attorney regarding sexual misconduct that occurred in the workplace "years ago."
Fox News said it brought in an outside law firm to investigate the claims.
Fox offered no details of the complaint that resulted in Henry's firing, only to say that it happened “years ago.”
The alleged victim is represented by noted sexual harassment attorney Douglas Wigdor. He also would not provide any details of the case.
“Ed was suspended the same day and removed from his on-air responsibilities pending investigation. Based on investigative findings, Ed has been terminated,” the executives said in a statement.
Henry denied the allegations.
"Ed Henry denies the allegations referenced in the Fox announcement and is confident that he will be vindicated after a full hearing in an appropriate forum," Henry tweeted, citing his attorney.
Henry's former co-anchor, Sandra Smith, announced the firing on the air. Fox said she'll continue in her role with rotating co-anchors until a full-time replacement is hired.
Henry, who co-anchored “America's Newsroom” between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon on weekdays, had slowly rehabilitated his career on Fox following a four-month leave of absence that ended in 2016. That followed published reports of an extramarital affair that he had conducted with a Las Vegas cocktail waitress.
Henry, a former White House correspondent for Fox, was only recently elevated to the role on “America's Newsroom.” He got the job after Bill Hemmer moved to Shepard Smith's afternoon time slot.
Fox's late former chairman, Roger Ailes, was fired in 2016 following harassment allegations made by former anchor Gretchen Carlson. Prime-time anchor Bill O'Reilly lost his job a year later following the revelations of settlements reached with women who had complaints about his behavior.
