On Tuesday, December 10, Britt McHenry, a Fox Nation host, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Fox News Channel and Fox News contributor George Murdoch, known as Tyrus, alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and retaliation. The complaint also names Fox Nation and Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet, Executive Vice President of Development John Finley, and Senior Vice President of Human Resources Monica Mekeel as defendants, among others.

In July the Huffington Post reported that McHenry had received lewd and inappropriate text messages from Murdoch, which she shared with friends, seeking their advice. Those friends told the outlet the messages included comments like “Just pull your boobs out now why don’t you. Just grin and bare it,” and “keep being negative and I’ll send you another dick pic.” News of the texts’ contents followed reports that Murdoch had been pulled off Un-PC, the Fox Nation show he cohosted with McHenry, after a “dispute,” and that said dispute involved an accusation of sexual harassment. In October, McHenry filed a sexual harassment complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights. Despite her efforts to bring the issue to the network’s attention, McHenry says in her lawsuit that it was not resolved.

In her suit, McHenry says Murdoch’s inappropriate behavior began shortly after their first meeting in August 2018 at a dinner hosted by the network. McHenry and Murdoch were slated to cohost Un-PC, which would launch in November 2018. In October 2018, according to the suit, Murdoch began sending McHenry sexually charged text messages. “I love pony tails and braids you look amazing and itʼs a real turn on not that you care but I love it,” one read, according to the lawsuit. Another read, “I’ll show you what it mean to be bad Britt Mc Henry”//Dick pic coming in 5 sec!!!!” Murdoch allegedly sent the following messages over the course of two months: “I love your legs”//“Fuck them your beautiful I love that picture”//“Is it creepy how I look at you ???”//“FYI you’ll need those legs to escape from me in Montana”//“I please especially on your knees hotness”//“I love the fact your always working if we ever had sex I feel like after an orgazzum you say speaking of feeling good did see the story on the puppy rescue we should do a segment on it hand me my phone.” (In a letter to McHenry’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, obtained by Vanity Fair, Murdoch’s lawyers said Murdoch was reviewing his legal options, “including potential defamation litigation,” in response to McHenry’s claims. In a statement, Tom Clare, an attorney representing Murdoch, said he was “unaware of any lawsuit being filed” against Murdoch, and that Murdoch “looks forward to having a public forum in the court system to clear his name from the smear campaign that has been waged against him in the media.”)

McHenry alleges she did not want to anger Murdoch by rejecting him, so she tried to deflect his texts by responding with nonsexual comments. In addition to the text messages, Murdoch allegedly made inappropriate comments to McHenry while in the workplace and grabbed her in a forceful manner. In January 2019, McHenry says she told her supervisor, Un-PC executive producer Jennifer Rauchet, about the text messages. McHenry says she believes Rauchet ignored her complaints about Murdoch and did not alert human resources. (Rauchet did not respond to a request for comment.)

A source with knowledge of the situation told me that Murdoch’s behavior was “referred to as ‘that’s just how he is,’” and that he was characterized at the network as “difficult.” The source added, “Multiple people witnessed him curse at McHenry on set. He was never punished for that either. He was never suspended for anything, to my knowledge.”