A former Fox Sports activities reporter and anchor filed a lawsuit Friday towards the community and high govt Charlie Dixon, saying he sexually assaulted her after coaxing her as much as his resort room to debate Tremendous Bowl plans in 2016 and was later pushed out of her job for preventing again.
Julie Stewart-Binks mentioned in her criticism, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, that she was impressed to talk up after a former hairstylist for Fox Sports filed a lawsuit on Jan. 5 saying a former host had made repeated undesirable sexual advances towards her and that Dixon had groped her.
Andrew Fegyveresi, a spokesperson for Fox, mentioned in an electronic mail that the claims had been addressed.
“These allegations are from over eight years in the past,” his electronic mail mentioned. “On the time, we promptly employed a third-party agency to research and addressed the matter based mostly on their findings.”
Fegyveresi didn’t reply to a request to elaborate on what the investigation discovered or how their findings have been addressed.
The Related Press doesn’t typically establish those that say they’ve been sexually assaulted or subjected to abuse until they’ve given permission to establish them. Stewart-Binks’ legal professionals mentioned she gave the AP permission to make use of her title.
Stewart-Binks coated soccer and hockey in Canada and moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to affix the workforce at Fox Sports activities 1, the lawsuit mentioned. She was invited to cowl the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as a number and returned to report on the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, the Stanley Cup playoffs and the U.S. males’s and ladies’s nationwide soccer groups. Within the fall of 2014, she was the principle sideline reporter for the Anaheim Geese.
Jamie Horowitz grew to become president of Fox Sports activities in Might 2015 and employed Dixon two months later to be the manager vice chairman of content material, the lawsuit mentioned. “The 2 had the ability to select and select who could be on digicam for the networks,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Within the buildup to the 2016 Tremendous Bowl, plans have been underway for the present “Jason Whitlock’s Home Social gathering By the Bay” and Stewart-Binks was instructed she was going to seem on this system, the lawsuit mentioned. The night time earlier than her assembly with the present’s workforce, she obtained a textual content from Dixon asking her to satisfy him at his resort, the lawsuit mentioned.
Based on the lawsuit, Dixon instructed her they wanted to speak in regards to the present, after which started berating her, saying he didn’t need her going to the Tremendous Bowl as a result of she wasn’t “humorous, fascinating or proficient.” He mentioned she wasn’t “able to dealing with large moments on TV” and folks would solely watch if she received on the bar and took off her high,” the lawsuit mentioned.
As Stewart-Binks scrambled to provide you with a response that may present her expertise, Dixon invited her to his resort room to see the view from his balcony, the go well with mentioned. She agreed, reluctantly. However as soon as on the balcony, Dixon pushed her towards the wall, pinned down her arms, pressed his physique towards hers and tried to power his tongue into her mouth, the lawsuit mentioned.
Stewart-Binks pushed him away and ran from the room, the go well with mentioned. She didn’t say something about it on the workforce’s Tremendous Bowl assembly the next day and she or he was confirmed to seem on the Whitlock present. Nevertheless, she was instructed that she needed to confront New England Patriots tight finish Ron Gronkowski about his stint at a stripper in school.
She resisted the thought of asking for his “Magic Mike” strikes however after Dixon’s feedback the night time earlier than, she needed to show that she might be enjoyable, so she requested for a lap dance, the lawsuit mentioned.
Stewart-Binks mentioned she confronted an instantaneous backlash on social media from individuals who mentioned she was setting girls again by means of her actions.
“Following Fox’s path, Stewart-Binks remained silent outwardly, although Dixon’s assault and the media’s portrayal of her took a profound emotional toll and left her in tears a lot of the time,” the lawsuit mentioned.
She solely went public after seeing the lawsuit filed by the previous Fox hairstylist who made related claims. Stewart-Binks’ lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for emotional misery and asks that Fox be required to take motion to stop any present or future sexual abuse.
“Ms. Stewart-Binks hopes that by searching for justice, and by doing so publicly, sports activities networks will acknowledge the need of ridding those that abuse energy and those that defend them,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Since leaving Fox Sports activities, Stewart-Binks has accomplished work for a lot of media retailers together with ESPN, CBS Sports activities, NBC Sports activities, and TNT. She additionally was a correspondent for the CBC in Canada throughout its protection of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
AP Sports activities reporter Joe Reedy in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Need assistance? Go to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
