Former Fox Sports anchor and reporter Julie Stewart-Binks has accused one of her ex-bosses at the network of sexually assaulting her on a balcony outside his Marina del Rey hotel room in 2016.
A lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that FS1 executive producer of content Charlie Dixon held Stewart-Binks against a wall, “forcefully” pressed his body against hers and “tried to force his tongue into her mouth” after the two originally got together to discuss plans for an upcoming show.
Stewart-Binks eventually slipped away from Dixon, the lawsuit states, but soon after the incident her contract with Fox was not renewed. In June 2017, after she had finished working for Fox, Stewart-Binks was interviewed by the network’s human resources department as part of an investigation into a different Fox executive, according to the filing.
During that interview, the lawsuit states, Stewart-Binks informed HR of the alleged incident involving Dixon and said he was the one they should be investigating. Instead of taking action, the lawsuit alleges, “Fox egregiously made the deliberate decision to protect Dixon and allow a sexual predator to remain an executive at Fox for nearly a decade.”
The lawsuit alleges sexual assault and sexual battery as causes of action against all defendants, which include Dixon, Fox Sports and its parent company, Fox Corp.
The Times was unable to reach Dixon through Fox Sports. Asked by The Times about the lawsuit and its allegations, Fox Sports emailed a statement: “These allegations are from over eight years ago. At the time, we promptly hired a third-party firm to investigate and addressed the matter based on their findings.”
Fox didn’t disclose the results of the third-party investigation.
Stewart-Binks was hired as an anchor and reporter for the upstart FS1 in 2013. Some of her duties with the network included hosting a daily soccer show, reporting from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and serving as the Ducks sideline reporter in 2014. In early 2016, the lawsuit states, Fox Sports host Jason Whitlock expressed interest in having Stewart-Binks appear on the show he’d be hosting during Super Bowl week.
According to the filing, Stewart-Binks met with Dixon on the evening of Jan. 27, 2016, at a hotel bar to discuss the executive’s thoughts for Whitlock’s show. But the conversation took a bizarre turn, the lawsuit states, as Dixon made such comments to Stewart-Binks as “you’re not funny, interesting, or talented” and “you’re not hot enough to be a hot girl on TV.”
At last call, the complaint states, Dixon invited Stewart up to his room for a beer and to see the view — an offer she initially declined but then “reluctantly” accepted.
“As Ms. Stewart-Binks stood on the balcony looking out into the darkness, Dixon swiftly pushed her against the wall and pinned her arms to her side,” the lawsuit states. “With her arms forcefully held down and his body pressed against hers, Dixon tried to force his tongue into her mouth. Ms. Stewart-Binks sealed her mouth shut.
“Dixon ignored her, continuing to press against her body and lick her closed mouth. While keeping one of her arms pinned, he moved his other arm from pressing her upper elbow against the wall to her body and towards her chest. Ms. Stewart-Binks seized the moment of partial freedom to push him away, say ‘get off of me,’ and rapidly leave the hotel room.”
According to the lawsuit, Stewart-Binks called her mother on the way home and told her what allegedly had happened. “The two agreed that it would be wiser for Ms. Stewart-Binks to remain silent rather than risk the career she had worked so hard to build,” the complaint states.
Stewart-Binks got the job for Whitlock’s show, but several weeks later she was informed by her agents that Fox had decided not to renew her contract. Since then, Stewart-Binks has continued to work in the industry, including gigs for ESPN and other outlets, but the lawsuit states that “on information and belief, she suspects that after she left Fox, Dixon continued to leverage his connections to undermine her career.”
Stewart-Binks is seeking unspecified damages, as well as “injunctive relief, including but not limited to directing Fox to take immediate and effective measures to prevent any current or future sexual assault and battery. At a minimum, this should involve terminating the responsible individuals, as well as those who enabled or protected them, without severance.”
Earlier this month, Dixon, Fox Sports and Fox Corp. were among the defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by hairstylist Noushin Faraji in L.A. County Superior Court. That lawsuit — which also named former Fox Sports host Skip Bayless and current host Joy Taylor as defendants — alleges Faraji “was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity” during her decade-plus working at the network.
According to Stewart-Binks’ complaint, she reached out to Faraji after the hairdresser filed her lawsuit to see how she could help. “Ms. Faraji simply asked that Ms. Stewart-Binks tell her story to the world,” the complaint states.
