By Florida Bill Just recently, Eric Bolling, an iron man anchor at Fox News, was informed that he was being suspended for 5-year old instances of lewd texting, when he allegedly sent photos of his private "package" to three female colleagues at the popular cable station.
That Huffington Post exclusive story had barely hit the Internet when a woman who had appeared as a guest on "The Specialists" show which Bolling hosts at 5 p.m. daily, filed a complaint accusing him of sexual harassment. The station is investigating, but there are reports that Bolling may be out permanently, and that a new host, possibly Laura Ingraham, could take his place. Bad week for Eric!!!
The 54-year-old Bolling who has been a Fox News employee for nearly 10 years, angrily denied all wrongdoing, and has filed a $50 million dollar lawsuit for defamation against the Huffington online news site, and its 32-year-old Iranian- born free lancer, Yashar Ali, who wrote the Bolling story.
The sexual harassment accusation came from Caroline Heldman, who is an associate professor of politics and political science at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She has charged that Bolling embarrassed her on the air by referring to her as "Dr. McHottie." Off air, she said, he has time and again sought a sexual rendezvous with her. It's all fabricated garbage from a woman seeking attention, Bolling has fired back.
But Journalist Bolling was not alone in getting caught up in all these "sexting" charges. In 2013, Ed Henry, one of Fox's top Washington reporters and a popular on-air personality, took a four-month hiatus after reports surfaced that he had texted photos of his manhood to a Las Vegas stripper with whom he had become friends. He stayed off the air for the 120-day vacation, and returned, and sure enough, talk of his sexual misadventures went away. His popularity never took a hit, but I doubt that Henry will be sending out any more such photos to his female acquaintances.
The idea of sending photos of private parts to work colleagues has me scratching my head. Aside from the weirdness of sending unsolicited manhood photos by phone, text or social media, I have to wonder about how the photos are obtained. Straight on "Selfies" with the cell phone? Mirror shots? Portraits by a friend?
But as today's free spirits say, if it's what you enjoy, go for it. But watch out who you send it to, and make sure you do not violate some federal obscenity law.
About a month before Bolling was accused of the sexting, a pink suspension slip landed on the desk of Charles Payne, who is the host of "Money Talk" on the Fox Business affiliate on grounds that he was being accused of sexual harassment.
Payne's accuser, Scottie Nell Hughes, had been a guest on his show on numerous occasions, and had acknowledged trysts with the married Payne. She contended that she cooperated with Payne's invitations in return for his promised help in obtaining for her full time employment with Fox. She has produced racy emails authored by her in which there was talk of sex play and "thrusting" in a swimming pool. The matter is now under investigation by Fox, and Payne has said that he will fight these ugly lies "like a lion armed with the truth."
If the most recent Bolling and Payne episodes of alleged sexual misbehavior inside the offices of Fox News are not enough, management now confirms that it has fired Jamie Horowitz from his executive spot with the Fox Sports outlet in New York for sexual harassment of women. Also in hot water with the station and under investigation is Francisco Cortes who oversees the Spanish side of Fox news. His alleged indiscretions go so far as to include a sexual assault of a woman, and that too is under the Fox microscope.
Over the past couple of years, Fox executives and on-air personalities have been clobbered by accusations of sexual misbehavior and for hitting upon attractive women on staff, and guest contributors. A person might legitimately wonder about what's going on inside the studios at Fox News, the nation's most popular cable news station for more than a decade, that would make so many of its biggest names feel that this kind of behavior is okay. One former contributor has described Fox as “a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult."
Some might say such a jaded corporate culture starts at the top. The chief executive of Fox, Roger Aires, resigned in 2016, after a former Miss America accused him of seeking sexual favors in exchange for her getting ahead. Other Fox women, including Andrea Tantaros and Julie Roginski, also complained of his inappropriate sexual behavior toward them. Shortly after Aires left, his closest aide, Bill Shine and a couple of other assistants, were pushed out the door.
"Big Dog" Bill O'Reilly, one of the industry's most popular conservative pundits, was fired after it was revealed that Fox had spent some $13 million dollars settling claims against him over the past 15 years. Comely women reporters and on-air personalities have claimed that O'Reilly pursued them in a sexual way, often by telephone calls in which he breathed heavily and panted. One African American office worker claimed that O'Reilly kept staring at her breasts, and referred to her as "hot chocolate." O'Reilly has denied all wrongdoing. Internet "sexting" and emailing and hitting on the ladies is not the exclusive recreational activity of newsmen. Perhaps the most recent publicized example of the behavior is by six-term New York Congressman Anthony Weiner who had a penchant for sending photos of his private parts to women that he knew and to those he had never met. For a period he did so using the alias, "Carlos Danger." Eventually, his obsession became known and he resigned from Congress, and he even ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of New York explaining that he had undergone therapy and was a new man and that he had stopped "sexting" on the Internet. But his internet sex play continued and subsequently he was arrested for sexting with a 15-year-old girl. He plead guilty in federal court, and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 8. He faces a maximum 10 years in the penitentiary. When the first such charge hits the media, things can typically go one of two ways. Other women who were previously afraid to come forward on their own join the chorus of complaints which in some cases becomes a groundswell. Or, on the other side: there are surely those with no involvement at all who jump on the bandwagon in hopes of getting a fat payoff. Truth or blackmail, or both?
Nevertheless, with all of those allegations, the culture might be questioned concerning the free wheeling sexual attention paid to Fox workers and station contributors by Fox execs and on-air celebs. New chiefs at the station appear to be far less tolerant of such unprofessional conduct and seem hell-bent on bringing professionalism and courtesy to the ranch. Just how much house cleaning are they going to have to do?
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