Just Another Fox News Sex Scandal [OPINION]
Fox News has fired anchor Ed Henry after new allegations of sexual misconduct by a former Fox employee that surfaced last week. Henry is not the first Fox News stud to be busted over his apparent inability to separate work from pleasure.
NPR cites "several former colleagues" in reporting that Henry recently completed a sexual addiction rehabilitation program.
"Several former colleagues tell NPR that over the years, Henry proved aggressively flirtatious with younger, female Fox staffers. He sometimes sent graphic notes and even graphic images to them, according to these colleagues," it was reported.
Allegations of an extra-marital affair with a Las Vegas hostess resulted in Henry being removed from coverage of the Clinton campaign in 2016. The network attempted to rehabilitate Henry by giving him new assignments. He recently began serving as co-host with Sandra Smith on the weekday morning news program America's Newsroom.
The firing of Ed Henry is just the latest sex scandal for Fox News. Chairman Roger Ailes was forced to resign four years ago when allegations of sexual harassment reached his office. Those allegations involved some of the network's top female talent, including Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Julie Roginsky, and Andrea Tantaros. Since then the network has dismissed several of its male stars including Bill O'Reilly, James Rosen, and Eric Bolling.
To be fair, other news networks have had their share of scandals in recent years. CBS had Dan Rather, who knowingly used false information to go after George W. Bush. NBC gave us the pathological liar Brian Williams. And then there was pervert Matt Lauer. But Fox seems to be in a league of its own.
Sexual predators seldom offend only once. Given what we now know that Fox knew about Henry's behavior, and given what we know about the recent sexual misconduct scandals at Fox, it amazes me that the network even attempted to rehabilitate Henry.
The whole thing smacks of just a bunch of empty Fox promises to me.
Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.