With all of the sexual harassment controversies that have plagued Fox News in recent times, it's hard to know whether to be surprised or numbed when new claims are revealed. This time around, Fox Business Network host and financial analyst Charles Payne, who fronts the series Making Money, has been suspended by the network after sexual harassment allegations were made public by a former network guest.
The claims against Charles Payne were initially made last month, as the woman in question contacted Fox's law firm to make the allegations. In her claims, the married female said that she was having an affair with the also-married Payne, with the threat of consequences ensuing if she refused. She claimed she ended the relationship in 2015 and tried to report Payne, which led to Fox Business and Fox News no longer seeking her contributions out, leading her to feel she was blackballed.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Charles Payne's attorney Neal Korval is denying everything regarding sexual harassment coming up in their relationship, Because yes, there was indeed a relationship. Payne himself came clean about it in a public statement made to the National Enquirer (of all places), saying that he'd carried on a three-year romance with the unnamed political analyst, and he also apologized to his wife and children.
The woman in question is not officially a Fox News or Fox Business employee, but she'd aimed to become a paid contributor, appearing in multiple programs across both channels. And she reportedly remained in the relationship with Charles Payne because she thought it would get her a leg up in the field. She also says she spent upwards of a year trying to talk to Payne and others to get the matter resolved, with one of those others being the recently ousted Bill Shine, but to no avail.
Charles Payne, who has been a part of the Fox Business team since the channel was founded in 2006, is only the latest Fox familiar to get in severely hot water. Troubles didn't start with former head honcho Roger Ailes, to be sure, but his highly publicized controversies led to his undoing, which then opened the doors for Bill O'Reilly, Bill Shine and quite a few others to also get excised for one reason or another. It all made for some sizable ratings at the time, but perhaps that time is running short.
Obviously, none of this means that Charles Payne is guilty of anything, and the proper parties are investigating the matter. While it's unclear if or when we'll be seeing him again on Making Money, you can head to our summer premiere schedule to see everything that will be showing up on the small screen in the near future.
