Abby Grossberg, a former Tucker Carlson producer, has settled a number of lawsuits against Fox News and the anchor for $12 million, her attorney announced Friday.
Grossberg sued the network and Carlson earlier this year alleging she was harassed and scapegoated for the Dominion Voting lawsuit against Fox.
She said she was fired for making her allegations public, including that Carlson and the network facilitated a toxic, misogynistic, anti-Semitic work environment.
Grossberg released a statement welcoming the fact that Fox had taken her allegations seriously.
“While I stand by my publicly filed claims and allegations, in light of today’s $12 million settlement, pursuant to which I have now withdrawn those claims, I am encouraged that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously. Based on our discussions with Fox News today, I am hopeful that this resolution is a positive step by the network regarding the treatment of women and minorities in the workplace,” she said.
Abby Grossberg, a former Tucker Carlson producer, has settled a number of lawsuits against Fox News and the anchor for $12 million, her attorney announced Friday
Grossberg said she was fired for making her allegations public, including that Carlson and the network facilitated a toxic and misogynistic work environment
Fox News said in a statement that it was “delighted that we were able to resolve this matter without further litigation.”
A former Tucker Carlson Tonight producer, Justin Wells, came out to Grossberg, denying all “claims and allegations made by Tucker Carlson and his team.”
“Nevertheless, we are pleased that Fox has resolved this matter and that all parties can move forward,” Wells wrote in a tweet.
Grossberg, who had been involved in the production of some of the broadcast networks, was accused along with others of defaming voting machine company Dominion, which sued the network.
Fox News settled with Dominion in April for a whopping $787.5 million before the lawsuit went to court. The voting machine company. The company alleged that Fox was spreading unfounded conspiracy theories about the company’s “rigging” of the election.
“Lies have consequences,” Dominion attorney Justin Nelson said after the settlement.
CEO John Poulos told Good morning America at a time when it was important for the political system to “send a signal that if media companies lie … and they knowingly do so, they will be willing to pay a very, very high price.”
The network said in a statement: “We are pleased to have reached a settlement in our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the rulings of the Court finding that certain claims about Dominion are false.
This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, rather than the bitterness of a divisive process, will allow the country to move forward with these issues.”
Fox News said in a statement it was “delighted that we were able to resolve this matter without further litigation.”
Now Dominion is marching on with lawsuits against the right-wing network Newsmax and Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
Meanwhile, Fox stares down the course of a $2.7 billion lawsuit from another voice technology company, Smartmatic, over its reporting of debunked claims of voter fraud. Legal experts suggested that the settlement with Dominion would hand Smartmatic a “negotiation chip.”
Referring to the Fox case, Poulos told GMA, “It’s a fact [Fox] published untruths about us and it wasn’t just once or twice, it wasn’t just one day or two days, it was 20 statements over two and a half months.
“This was not the case with a media company that pursues the truth and makes a mistake. They knew.’
Grossberg announced in March that she was suing the network, alleging that Carlson had created a culture where “unprofessional behavior reigned supreme and the staff’s dislike and contempt for women permeated nearly every workday.”
Grossberg, who was fired by Fox shortly after suing the network, alleged in her complaint that the network was rife with sexism, harassment, anti-Semitism and bullying.
In another lawsuit Grossberg filed against Fox News, filed before the network’s $787.5 million Dominion Defamation settlement, Grossberg alleged that Fox News attorneys had tried to get her to take the blame for the promotion by the network of misinformation about the 2020 election and broadcasting of conspiracy theories about Dominion voting systems.
Fox News is located in the News Corporation Building in Midtown Manhattan. A former producer of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Justin Wells, came out to Grossberg, denying all “claims and allegations Tucker Carlson and his team”
Grossberg worked as a senior booking producer for Maria Bartiromo before being promoted to lead booking at Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Grossberg said she wanted to join Carlson’s show because it was a promotion from her previous position with Maria Bartiromo, and she got a good feeling with the staff when she interviewed.
But she said she immediately realized that Tucker Carlson enabled a culture of misogynistic and sexist behavior.
Grossberg claimed to have been overlooked at the company and declined promotions as a woman.
She also noted several derogatory statements from Fox News executives, in one case a colleague referred to the “Sunday Mornings Futures” host as a “crazy b**ch” and “menopausal.”
She described the office where she worked as being filled with pictures of Nancy Pelosi in a revealing bathing suit with her cleavage exposed, while her co-workers made openly offensive Jewish jokes.
Insiders have suggested that her lawsuit over allegations of bullying, sexism and anti-Semitism among Carlson’s senior staff, coupled with his own “disparaging” comments about senior News Corp executives, reportedly led to Rupert Murdoch firing the star host.