Skip Bayless and Fox are being sued for sexual harassment. A lawsuit alleges Bayless offered 1.5 million dollars for s*x and gave “lingering hugs and kisses… pressing against her breasts.”
Noushin Faraji, who says she worked at Fox Sports from 2012 through last August, made a series of allegations in the 42-page lawsuit obtained by Front Office Sports. Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, FOX Sports EVP Charlie Dixon, Bayless and FS1 host Joy Taylor are listed as defendants in the lawsuit filed on Friday.
In the suit filed in Los Angeles, Faraji alleges that Dixon, the head of content for FS1, grabbed her buttocks at a birthday party in West Hollywood. When she relayed the encounter to Taylor, the Fox host allegedly told her to “get over it,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of Faraji and other nonexempt Fox employees working in California over the past four years. Faraji seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
After starting work on the Undisputed morning show starring Bayless, the suit alleges that he began giving Faraji “lingering hugs and kisses on the cheek while putting his body against hers and pressing against her breasts.”
The single mother alleges she repeatedly told Bayless she was not interested in him and did not “date at work”.
She also claims she told Bayless she was suffering from ovarian cancer, after developing issues with her left ovary, in an effort to halt his advances.
Instead, Bayless became more aggressive over the years, according to the suit. He allegedly offered Faraji $1.5 million to have sex with him–and claimed he could “change” her life. The suit also claims Bayless accused Faraji of sleeping with Shannon Sharpe, his co-star on Undisputed.
As the suit alleges: “Approximately one week later, Mr. Bayless made another advance at Ms. Faraji. Ms. Faraji responded: ‘Skip, stop, you have a wife.’ Mr. Bayless responded: ‘Aren’t you Muslim? Doesn’t your dad have three to four wives?’
Ms. Faraji responded that her father was dead, and when Mr. Bayless looked taken aback, she made an excuse to leave.”
During her time at Fox, Faraji alleges she made multiple complaints to the Human Resources and Employee Relations departments.
Meanwhile, the suit alleges Taylor began “insulting Ms. Faraji on a personal and professional level” after their friendship ended. The suit also alleges that Taylor mocked the “English” pronunciation of Faraji, who is of Persian descent.
“Her lengthy tenure at Fox Sports and not-so-thinly-veiled references to multiple anonymous witnesses suggests that she may have the receipts to back up her version of the events,” said Daniel Wallach, a sports law attorney and co-host of the podcast Conduct Detrimental. “Just as importantly, she contemporaneously raised these issues with co-workers, which, in the jurors’ eyes, could boost the credibility of these claims.”
