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Mace Takes to House Floor With Charges of Rape and Sexual Predation
Representative Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican who in recent weeks has floated a run for governor, on Monday night accused her former fiancé and three other men of having drugged and raped her and other women, and of filming and taking lewd photographs of women and underage girls without their consent.
In a stunningly graphic speech on the House floor that had little precedent, Ms. Mace said the men, whom she named and displayed photographs of on a placard where lawmakers more typically display charts and graphs on policy issues, were involved in the “premeditated, calculated exploitation of innocent women and girls in my district.”
“You’ve booked yourself a one-way ticket to hell,” she said, referring to the men directly at one point in a speech that lasted close to an hour. “It is nonstop. There are no connections. So I and all of your victims can watch you rot into eternity.”
On the floor of the House, Ms. Mace was protected by the speech and debate clause, even as she accused the men of repeatedly assaulting incapacitated women and filming it. She offered no evidence to support the accusations, although she said she had plenty of such material.
She refused to answer any follow-up questions from reporters outside the Capitol on Monday night and did not respond to a separate request to provide corroboration. The New York Times has not independently verified any of the allegations.
In a statement not long after Ms. Mace finished speaking, Patrick Bryant, the former fiancé whom she accused by name, denied her account.
“I categorically deny these allegations.,” he said. “I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name.”
Ms. Mace has long made her personal trauma part of her political brand. In the past, she has shared the story of being molested at a swimming pool when she was 14 and said that for years she blamed herself, because she had been wearing a two-piece bathing suit. She said she was raped when she was 16, leading her to drop out of high school, before pulling herself out of a downward spiral and becoming the first woman to graduate from the military college the Citadel.
Ms. Mace has tried to position herself as the ultimate defender of women’s rights, even as she has expressed unequivocal support for President Trump, who has been found liable for sexual abuse, and a cabinet member who has been dogged by an accusation of sexual assault that he has denied. In recent weeks, Ms. Mace has made a campaign out of her measure to bar transgender individuals from using women’s restrooms and changing rooms in the Capitol complex.
A onetime moderate who has made a full-bore turn to Trumpism as she has tried to game out her own political future in a tribal party, Ms. Mace has been vocal in recent weeks about her interest in running for governor in her state.
So has Alan Wilson, the South Carolina attorney general, whom she targeted in her speech on Monday as a “do-nothing attorney general” and accused of treating women who came forward like criminals.
“During the last year, as I turned everything over to law enforcement, I was told I, as a victim, would be investigated,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Wilson, Jaqueline Lane, said that Ms. Mace’s statements regarding the conduct of the attorney general were “categorically false.”
“At this time, our office has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters,” said Ms. Lane, who added that neither Mr. Wilson nor anyone in his office had heard of Ms. Mace’s allegations until she spoke out on Monday night.
She said that while Ms. Mace and Mr. Wilson had been at multiple events together over the last six months and the congresswoman had the attorney general’s cellphone number, “not once has she approached or reached out to him regarding any of her concerns.”
On the House floor, Ms. Mace said that on her last night with her former fiancé, he “physically assaulted me,” leaving a permanent mark on her body. Before that, she said, she had found about a dozen compromising photos of underage girls on his phone, as well as more than 10,000 videos documenting assaults of other women who appeared to be incapacitated at the time, and graphic images of women that appeared to have been recorded surreptitiously.
She was shocked, she said, to zoom in on one of the videos and discover that she was one of the women who had been filmed nude, without her consent.
Ms. Mace gave her speech in a mostly empty chamber after House votes. But three female Republican lawmakers, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, sat behind her in solidarity.
In a shocking turn of events, Representative Mace took to the House floor today to deliver a powerful speech accusing several members of Congress of rape and sexual predation. With a trembling voice and tears in her eyes, Mace detailed the harrowing experiences of victims who had come forward to share their stories with her.She called for a full investigation into the allegations and urged her colleagues to hold those responsible accountable for their actions. Mace emphasized the importance of creating a safe and respectful work environment for all members of Congress and their staff.
The room fell silent as Mace concluded her speech, leaving a palpable sense of unease and anger in the air. The gravity of her accusations reverberated throughout the Capitol, sparking a national conversation about the pervasive culture of abuse and harassment in politics.
As the dust settles and the fallout from Mace’s speech continues to unfold, one thing is clear: the fight against sexual misconduct in the halls of power is far from over. It is up to all of us to stand up, speak out, and demand justice for the victims of these heinous crimes.
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- Mace
- House Floor
- Charges
- Rape
- Sexual Predation
- Congresswoman
- Allegations
- Sexual Assault
- House of Representatives
- Political Scandal
#Mace #Takes #House #Floor #Charges #Rape #Sexual #Predation
Emails detail Saints’ assistance to New Orleans Archdiocese in sexual abuse scandal
NEW ORLEANS — As New Orleans church leaders braced for the fallout from publishing a list of predatory Catholic priests, they turned to an unlikely ally: the front office of the city’s NFL franchise.
What followed was a monthslong, crisis-communications blitz orchestrated by the New Orleans Saints‘ president and other top team officials, according to hundreds of internal emails obtained by The Associated Press.
The records, which the Saints and church had long sought to keep out of public view, reveal team executives played a more extensive role than previously known in a public relations campaign to mitigate fallout from the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The emails shed new light on the Saints’ foray into a fraught topic far from the gridiron, a behind-the-scenes effort driven by the team’s devoutly Catholic owner who has long enjoyed a close relationship with the city’s embattled archbishop.
They also showed how various New Orleans institutions — from a sitting federal judge to the local media — rallied around church leaders at a critical moment.
Among the key moments, as revealed in the Saints’ own emails:
• Saints executives were so involved in the church’s damage control that a team spokesman briefed his boss on a 2018 call with the city’s top prosecutor hours before the church released a list of clergymen accused of abuse. The call, the spokesman said, “allowed us to take certain people off” the list.
• Team officials were among the first people outside the church to view that list, a carefully curated, yet undercounted roster of suspected pedophiles. The disclosure of those names invited civil claims against the church and drew attention from federal and state law enforcement.
• The team’s president, Dennis Lauscha, drafted more than a dozen questions that Archbishop Gregory Aymond should be prepared to answer as he faced reporters.
• The Saints’ senior vice president of communications, Greg Bensel, provided fly-on-the-wall updates to Lauscha about local media interviews, suggesting church and team leaders were all on the same team. “He is doing well,” Bensel wrote as the archbishop told reporters the church was committed to addressing the crisis. “That is our message,” Bensel added, “that we will not stop here today.”
The emails obtained by AP sharply undercut assurances the Saints gave fans about the public relations guidance five years ago when they asserted they had provided only “minimal” assistance to the church. The team went to court to keep its internal emails secret.
“This is disgusting,” said state Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans. “As a New Orleans resident, taxpayer and Catholic, it doesn’t make any sense to me why the Saints would go to these lengths to protect grown men who raped children. All of them should have been just as horrified at the allegations.”
The Saints told the AP last week that the partnership is a thing of the past. The emails cover a yearlong period ending in July 2019, when they were subpoenaed by attorneys for victims of a priest later charged with raping an 8-year-old boy.
In a lengthy statement, the team criticized the media for using “leaked emails for the purpose of misconstruing a well-intended effort.”
“No member of the Saints organization condones or wants to cover up the abuse that occurred in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” the team said. “That abuse occurred is a terrible fact.”
The team’s response did little to quell the anger of survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
“We felt betrayed by the organization,” said Kevin Bourgeois, a former Saints season-ticket holder who was abused by a priest in the 1980s. “It forces me to question what other secrets are being withheld. I’m angry, hurt and retraumatized again.”
Emails reveal extent of help
After the AP first reported on the alliance in early 2020, Saints owner Gayle Benson denied that anyone “associated with our organizations made recommendations or had input” on the list of pedophile priests.
The Saints reiterated that denial in its statement Saturday, saying no Saints employees “had any responsibility for adding or removing any names from that list.” The team said that no employees offered “any input, suggestions or opinions as to who should be included or omitted from” the list.
Leon Cannizzaro, the district attorney at the time, denied last week any role in shaping the credibly accused clergy list, echoing statements he made in 2020. He told AP he “absolutely had no involvement in removing any names from any list.” Cannizzaro said he did not know why the Saints’ spokesman would have reported he had been on a call related to the list.
The emails, sent from Saints accounts, don’t specify which clergymen were removed from the list or why. They raise fresh questions, however, about the Saints’ role in a scandal that has taken on much larger legal and financial stakes since the team waded into it, potentially in violation of the NFL’s policy against conduct “detrimental to the league.”
A coalescing of New Orleans institutions
The outsized role of Saints executives could draw new attention from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who is scheduled to address reporters Monday as New Orleans prepares to host its 11th Super Bowl. Messages requesting comment were sent to the NFL.
Taken together, the emails portray a coalescing of several New Orleans institutions. U.S. District Court Judge Jay Zainey, who was copied by the Saints on the public relations efforts, cheered Bensel on from his personal email account, thanking the team’s spokesman “for the wonderful advice.” A newspaper editor similarly thanked Bensel for getting involved.
“You have hit all the points,” Zainey, a fellow Catholic, wrote in another email to Bensel, praising a lengthy note the Saints spokesman sent to local newspaper editors. “By his example and leadership, Archbishop Aymond, our shepherd, will continue to lead our Church in the right direction — helping us to learn and to rebuild from the mistakes of the past.”
Zainey later struck down a Louisiana law, vigorously opposed by the church, that would have allowed victims to bring civil claims irrespective of how long ago the alleged sex abuse took place. He declined to comment.
A watershed moment for the Catholic Church
The list marked a watershed in heavily Catholic New Orleans — a long-awaited mea culpa to parishioners intended to usher in healing and local accountability. It came at a time when church leaders were seeking to retain public trust — and financial support — as they reckoned with generations of abuse and mounting litigation that eventually drove the Archdiocese of New Orleans into bankruptcy.
That litigation, filed in 2020, involves more than 600 people who say they were abused by clergy. The case has produced a trove of still-secret church records said to document years of abuse claims and a pattern of church leaders transferring clergy without reporting their crimes to law enforcement.
While it has since expanded, the list of accused priests was missing a number of clergy when it was originally released, an earlier AP investigation found.
The AP identified 20 clergymen who had been accused in lawsuits or charged by law enforcement with child sexual abuse who were inexplicably omitted from the New Orleans list — including two who were charged and convicted of crimes.
Still, the list has served as a road map for both the FBI and Louisiana State Police, which launched sweeping investigations into New Orleans church leaders’ shielding of predatory priests.
Last spring, state police carried out a wide-ranging search warrant at the Archdiocese of New Orleans, seizing records that include communications with the Vatican.
Since the Saints began assisting the archdiocese, at least seven current and former members of the local clergy have been charged with crimes ranging from rape to possession of child pornography.
Public relations campaign
The extent of the abuse remained largely unknown in 2018, a year the Saints won nine consecutive games on the way to an NFC Championship appearance. As the church prepped for a media onslaught, Bensel carried out an aggressive public relations campaign in which he called in favors, prepared talking points and leaned on long-time media contacts to support the church through a “soon-to-be-messy” time.
Far from freelancing, Bensel had the Saints’ backing and blessing through what he called a “Galileo moment,” suggesting Aymond would be a trailblazer in releasing a credibly accused clergy list at a critical time for the church. In emails to editorial boards, he warned “casting a critical eye” on the archbishop “is neither beneficial nor right.”
He urged the city’s newspapers to “work with” the church, reminding them the Saints and New Orleans Pelicans — the city’s NBA team, also owned by Benson — had been successful thanks, in part, to their support.
“We did this because we had buy-in from YOU,” Bensel wrote to the editors of The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate, “supporting our mission to be the best, to make New Orleans and everything within her bounds the best.”
“We are sitting on that opportunity now with the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” he added. “We need to tell the story of how this Archbishop is leading us out of this mess.”
Close relationship between Saints and the Catholic Church
Benson and Aymond, the archbishop, have been confidants for years. It was the archbishop who introduced Benson to her late husband, Tom Benson, who died in 2018, leaving his widow in control of New Orleans’ NFL and NBA franchises.
The Bensons’ foundation has given tens of millions of dollars to the archdiocese and other Catholic causes. Along the way, Aymond has flown on the owner’s private jet and become almost a part of the team, frequently celebrating pregame Masses.
When the clergy abuse allegations came to a head, Bensel, the Saints’ spokesman, worked his contacts in the local media to help shape the story. He had friendly email exchanges with a Times-Picayune columnist who praised the archbishop for releasing the clergy list. He also asked the newspaper’s leadership to keep their communications “confidential, not for publication nor to share with others.”
His emails revealed that The Advocate — after Aymond privately complained to the publisher — removed a notice from one online article that had called for clergy abuse victims to reach out.
Kevin Hall, president and publisher of Georges Media, which owns the newspaper, said the publication welcomes engagement from community leaders but that outreach “does not dilute our journalistic standards or keep us from pursuing the truth.”
“No one gets preferential treatment in our coverage of the news,” he said in a statement. “Over the past six years, we have consistently published in-depth stories highlighting the ongoing serious issues surrounding the archdiocese sex abuse crisis, as well as investigative reports on this matter by WWL-TV and by The Associated Press.”
It was The Advocate’s reporting that prompted Bensel to help the church, the emails show. He first offered to “chat crisis communications” with church leaders after the newspaper exposed a scandal involving a disgraced deacon, George Brignac, who remained a lay minister even after the archdiocese settled claims he had raped an 8-year-old altar boy.
“We have been through enough at Saints to be a help or sounding board,” Bensel wrote, “but I don’t want to overstep!”
In a recent development in the ongoing sexual abuse scandal within the New Orleans Archdiocese, emails have surfaced detailing the extent of the Saints’ assistance to the church in handling the allegations.The emails, obtained through a public records request, show that the Saints worked closely with the archdiocese to help manage the fallout from the scandal. The team’s senior vice president of communications, Greg Bensel, offered to “help in any way” and even suggested bringing in outside PR help to handle the crisis.
The emails also reveal that the Saints were heavily involved in crafting public statements for the archdiocese, with Bensel providing edits and suggestions on multiple drafts. In one email, he wrote, “We are in this together… I know we will pull through this as a team.”
The extent of the Saints’ involvement in the scandal has raised questions about the team’s role in aiding an institution accused of covering up abuse. Some critics have called for transparency from the team and have questioned the ethics of their support for the archdiocese.
As more details continue to emerge, it remains to be seen how the Saints will address their involvement in the scandal and what implications it may have for the team moving forward. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.
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- New Orleans Archdiocese scandal
- Saints assistance in sexual abuse scandal
- Email revelations in abuse scandal
- New Orleans Saints involvement in Archdiocese scandal
- Sexual abuse cover-up emails
- Saints support for Archdiocese in scandal
- Email evidence in New Orleans scandal
- Saints role in Archdiocese sexual abuse scandal
- New Orleans Archdiocese scandal details
- Email leaks in Archdiocese abuse scandal
#Emails #detail #Saints #assistance #Orleans #Archdiocese #sexual #abuse #scandal
Jay-Z Is Using Google Maps to Show Sexual Assault Allegations Are False
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Jay-Z, is using Google Maps in an attempt to disprove a woman’s claim that the rapper and Sean “Diddy” Combs raped her when she was 13 years old.
Tony Buzbee, the attorney representing Jane Doe in this lawsuit, told Newsweek on Thursday that Spiro “wants to make unilateral arguments for dispositive relief rather than engage in discovery like we do in every other case.”
“Like every other filing he has made to date in this case, this one is shrill, desperate, and meritless,” Buzbee said.
Newsweek reached out to Spiro via email for comment on Thursday.
Jay-Z attends the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders game at Northwest Stadium on November 24, 2024. Inset: Google Maps screenshot included in Jay-Z’s legal filing.
Getty Images
Why It Matters
A Jane Doe already suing Combs amended her complaint in November to add Jay-Z, accusing the two of raping her at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in 2000 when she was 13. Combs and Jay-Z have denied these allegations.
Jay-Z’s latest filing continues his attempts to get the lawsuit dismissed.
The Context
Doe’s lawsuit states that on September 7, 2000, she had a friend drive her from Rochester to Radio City Music Hall in New York City so she could try to attend the MTV Video Music Awards. Unable to get inside to see the show, Doe said she watched the show outside on a jumbotron and approached Combs’ limo driver.
“One of the limousine drivers she spoke to claimed to work for Defendant Combs. The driver told her that Combs liked younger girls and said she ‘fit what Diddy was looking for,’ and while not allowing her into the Awards, the driver invited her to an afterparty,” the lawsuit states.
This screenshot from Google Maps is included in Jay-Z’s legal filing that aims to disprove a Jane Doe’s claim that the rapper raped her following the 2000 MTV VMAs at Radio City Music Hall.
Southern District of New York
Doe said the driver drove for about 20 minutes, and they arrived “at what she believed to be a large white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway.”
Inside, Doe said she signed what she believed to be a non-disclose agreement and started to feel ill after drinking a provided beverage. Then, she said, Combs and Jay-Z raped her while a female celebrity was also in the room.
What To Know
In legal filings Wednesday, Spiro provided multiple Exhibits of screenshots from Google Maps showing the distance and typical driving time between New York City locations mentioned in Doe’s lawsuit.
This includes travel times from Radio City Music Hall (where the 2000 VMAs were held) to Lotus and Twirl Nightclubs on a Thursday night in September around 11:30 p.m.
Spiro claims Jay-Z went to these clubs after the award show, which ended around 11:11 p.m.
Another screenshot displays the route from Radio City Music Hall to a home in the Hamptons on a Thursday night in September around 11 p.m. and midnight.
This table is also included as an exhibit in Jay-Z’s filing.
Southern District of New York
The screenshots also include a promotional poster from the 2000 VMAs picturing Blink-182 and a Table of Sunrise/Sunset, Moonrise/Moonset, or Twilight Times for the year 2000, “reflecting sunrise at 6:30 a.m. (adjusted for daylight savings) on September 8, 2000, posted on the United States Navy’s website,” the filing says.
Spiro says the exhibits prove Doe’s allegations about what happened on the night of the alleged assault prove the accusations are false. He argued Buzbee had never met Doe before filing her lawsuit and criticized him for his alleged lack of vetting her claims.
“If nothing else, these inconsistencies should have been run to ground before Mr. Buzbee sponsored allegations that could not withstand a simple Google search,” Spiro wrote.
This filing comes after several previous filings from Jay-Z’s legal team citing inconsistencies between Doe’s lawsuit and her December interview with NBC News.
What People Are Saying
Buzbee told Newsweek on Thursday: “With regard to meeting with the client, [Spiro] obviously didn’t bother to prepare our response. He can’t even get his facts right in his own filings but criticizes Jane Doe for misremembering a few facts 24 years ago when she was a minor. I prefer to try the case in court rather than in a play by play commentary of Mr. Spiro’s frivolous filings.”
Kat Pasion, Combs’ former girlfriend, in The Fall of Diddy: “[Combs] came into the room to watch a little bit. He’s walking out of the room, and he says, ‘There’s a little bit of R. Kelly in all of us,’ and then walks out the door.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz on The Bulwark, urging President Donald Trump to release the alleged “Diddy List”: “We deserve to know who is implicated in abusing children.”
What’s Next
Combs’ sex trafficking trial is set to start on May 5 in New York.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com
In recent news, rapper Jay-Z has been using Google Maps to debunk sexual assault allegations made against him.Several women have come forward with claims of sexual misconduct against the music mogul, but Jay-Z is fighting back by providing evidence through Google Maps location data that proves he was not present at the alleged incidents.
This innovative use of technology is shedding light on the importance of corroborating evidence in sexual assault cases and challenging the credibility of false accusations.
Stay tuned as this story develops and Jay-Z continues to defend himself against these serious allegations.
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Jay-Z, Google Maps, sexual assault allegations, debunked, false accusations, legal battle, celebrity news, defamation case, social media controversy
#JayZ #Google #Maps #Show #Sexual #Assault #Allegations #FalseFlorida clears basketball coach Todd Golden of Title IX violation regarding sexual harassment, stalking claims, citing ‘no evidence’
Florida cleared head coach Todd Golden in a now-closed Title IX investigation. (Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images) The University of Florida on Monday cleared basketball coach Todd Golden of a Title IX complaint that included allegations of sexual harassment and stalking of multiple women, including Florida students.
In a statement, Florida announced that it was closing the investigation after finding “no evidence” of a Title IX violation.
“The University of Florida takes these matters seriously and works deliberately to ensure that due process is upheld for everyone,” Florida’s statement reads. “After a thorough investigation that included dozens of interviews over the past months, the University of Florida has found no evidence that Todd Golden violated Title IX. The Title IX office has closed its investigation.”
Golden also released a statement addressing the decision and thanking Florida’s University Athletic Association for its support.
“The last several months have been a challenge for my family and me while this process dragged on,” Golden’s statement reads. “We asked for the public to allow the process to work through to its conclusion and not rush to judgment based on allegations. The UAA and so many at the university have been tremendously supportive — my family and I are extremely grateful.
“And thank you to our fans for your incredible support for our players and our program. It has made a huge difference.”
What Golden was accused of
The complaints against Golden were first reported in November by Florida’s student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator. Per the complaints, Golden was accused of making unwanted sexual advances on social media and taking photos of women who were walking or driving and sending them to those women.
Golden was also accused of sending photos and videos of his genitalia and showing up to locations of where he knew that the women he was accused of stalking would be.
Golden, 39, has continued to coach the program throughout the investigation. Following a Nov. 11 win over Grambling, Florida’s first game since the allegations were reported, Golden asked the public to “let the process take place.”
“Obviously in this situation, due process, and to continue to support our guys and I would just hope that they would let the process take place and see where it ends up,” Golden said in his postgame news conference.
Golden’s attorney criticizes ‘meritless’ claim
On Monday, Golden’s attorney, William Sheppard released a statement criticizing the complaint as “meritless.”
“Coach Golden and I have respected the process throughout while actively engaging with the university,” Sheppard’s statement reads. “However, there were many who did not respect the investigative process. Instead, they sought to target Coach Golden and drive their agenda and this investigation for their own self-interest.
“Some leaked confidential material to the media; falsely posed as a UF lawyer in an effort to intimidate; harassed UF students and parents to try to generate a false narrative; and harassed my client, his family, and his friends.”
A separate Title IX investigation involving a sexual assault allegation against Florida assistant coach Taurean Green remains open. Green, a former Florida player who won NCAA championships with the program in 2006 and 2007, is accused of kissing a female athletic department employee and putting his hand down her pants, per a complaint reported by ESPN in January.
Green has not addressed the allegation publicly and continues to coach. Golden was critical of the process’ lack of confidentiality when he announced that Green would continue to coach in January.
“So as frustrating and as disappointing and as hard as it is to do, I am going to do what I think I need to do and continue to respect the process, as I have.”
Florida is off to an 18-2 start and ranked No. 5 in the nation. Golden is in his third year as the program’s head coach after previously coaching at the University of San Francisco.
In a recent development, the University of Florida has officially cleared basketball coach Todd Golden of any Title IX violation regarding claims of sexual harassment and stalking. The university conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations and found no evidence to support the claims made against Golden.This news comes as a relief to both Golden and the university community, who have been eagerly awaiting the outcome of the investigation. The university’s decision to clear Golden of any wrongdoing is a testament to his character and integrity as a coach and a leader.
Golden has expressed his gratitude for the university’s support throughout the investigation and is looking forward to continuing his role as the head basketball coach. He remains focused on leading his team to success on and off the court.
The university’s swift and thorough investigation serves as a reminder of the importance of due process and the need for all claims of misconduct to be thoroughly investigated. It also highlights the university’s commitment to upholding a safe and respectful environment for all members of the community.
As the basketball season continues, Golden and his team can now focus on their goals without the cloud of these allegations hanging over them. The university community stands behind Golden as he moves forward from this challenging chapter.
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Florida basketball, Todd Golden, Title IX violation, sexual harassment, stalking claims, evidence, investigation, NCAA, college sports, Florida athletics, coach cleared, no evidence found
#Florida #clears #basketball #coach #Todd #Golden #Title #violation #sexual #harassment #stalking #claims #citing #evidenceComic Book Publisher Drops Neil Gaiman Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations
The comic book company that publishes the graphic novels and comics of Neil Gaiman announced this weekend that it would no longer work with him after a storm of sexual misconduct allegations and that it would halt the publication of his forthcoming “Anansi Boys” series.
The company, Dark Horse Comics, wrote on X on Saturday: “Dark Horse takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works.”
The announcement followed a New York magazine article this month that contained allegations that Mr. Gaiman sexually abused and assaulted multiple women over several years. Mr. Gaiman has emphatically denied the allegations and said in a statement on Jan. 14: “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”
The announcement by Dark Horse Comics, which is based in Milwaukie, Ore., is the latest fallout for Mr. Gaiman. Television adaptations of his work have been paused, productions have been dropped, and several publishers have backed away from working with him on any new projects. Dark Horse released the first of the “Anansi Boys” comic book series, which was an adaptation of Mr. Gaiman’s 2005 novel of the same name, in June. It was intended to be an eight-part series, seven of which have been released.
The New York magazine article, published on Jan. 13, gave shape to allegations that began circulating last summer, when several women appeared on a podcast titled “Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman.” After they accused the author on the podcast of sexually assaulting and abusing them, several of Mr. Gaiman’s film adaptations and Hollywood projects were dropped or paused.
The response has been slower in the literary and publishing industries, where the initial reaction to the allegations, and then to the New York magazine article, was more tepid. Still, publishers have begun distancing themselves from Mr. Gaiman. Several prominent writers have denounced him or pushed for his literary awards to be stripped.
In an internal memo to the staff of W.W. Norton earlier this month, the company’s president said that the publishing company would no longer work with Mr. Gaiman and would not take on any future projects from him.
HarperCollins, which has published many of Mr. Gaiman’s most popular titles, has said it does not have any new books planned from him.
Neither Mr. Gaiman’s lawyer nor his literary agent at Writer’s House responded to a request for comment.
In a shocking turn of events, renowned comic book publisher DC Comics has decided to drop Neil Gaiman following multiple sexual misconduct allegations. Gaiman, a celebrated author and comic book writer, has been accused by several individuals of inappropriate behavior and harassment.The decision to sever ties with Gaiman comes after a thorough investigation conducted by DC Comics, which revealed troubling evidence of misconduct. In a statement released by the publisher, they expressed their commitment to creating a safe and respectful workplace for all employees and collaborators.
Fans of Gaiman’s work are left reeling from the news, as the author’s contributions to the comic book industry have been significant and influential. However, many are also expressing their support for DC Comics’ decision to take a stand against sexual misconduct and prioritize the well-being of their employees.
As the #MeToo movement continues to shine a spotlight on issues of harassment and abuse in the entertainment industry, it is clear that no one, regardless of their talent or stature, is above accountability. The fallout from these allegations serves as a reminder that actions have consequences, and that no one is exempt from facing the repercussions of their behavior.
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- Comic book publisher
- Neil Gaiman
- Sexual misconduct allegations
- Author controversy
- Comics industry news
- Publishing drama
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MeToo movement
- Celebrity scandal
- Graphic novel industry
- Social media backlash
#Comic #Book #Publisher #Drops #Neil #Gaiman #Sexual #Misconduct #Allegations
Neil Gaiman, facing multiple allegations of sexual abuse, is dropped by Dark Horse Comics
NEW YORK (AP) — One of Neil Gaiman’s publishers has dropped him as the British author faces multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment. And his name is not on the website of the agency which has for years handled his speaking appearances.
Dark Horse Comics announced on X last weekend that it would no longer release its illustrated series based on Gaiman’s novel, “Anansi Boys.” The seventh of eight planned editions came out earlier this month.
“Dark Horse takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works,” reads the statement from Dark Horse, which still includes Gaiman’s books on its website.
Allegations against Gaiman, known for such bestsellers as “Coraline” and “The Sandman” series, first emerged last summer on a Tortoise Media podcast. After a lengthy New York Magazine article in January included allegations from eight women of assault, abuse and coercion, Gaiman responded with a blog post, denying any wrongdoing.
“Like most of us, I’m learning, and I’m trying to do the work needed, and I know that that’s not an overnight process,” he wrote. “At the same time, as I reflect on my past – and as I re-review everything that actually happened as opposed to what is being alleged – I don’t accept there was any abuse.”
Gaiman’s office and his literary agent did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Gaiman has worked with numerous publishers over the years. Two of them, HarperCollins and W.W. Norton, have said they have no plans to release his books in the future. Others, including Bloomsbury, have so far declined comment.
Gaiman still lists the Stephen Barclay Agency on his website as a contact for personal appearances, but his name doesn’t appear on the agency’s client list. Barclay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Disney has paused a planned adaptation of Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book,” while Netflix is still scheduled to release a second season based on “The Sandman.”
In a shocking turn of events, renowned author Neil Gaiman has been accused of multiple counts of sexual abuse and misconduct. As a result, Dark Horse Comics, one of the publishers that has collaborated with Gaiman on various projects, has decided to sever ties with the acclaimed writer.The allegations against Gaiman have sent shockwaves through the literary community, with many fans and colleagues expressing their disbelief and disappointment. Dark Horse Comics, known for publishing Gaiman’s popular works such as “The Sandman” and “American Gods,” has released a statement condemning the alleged behavior and stating that they will no longer be working with him in any capacity.
This news has left many wondering about the future of Gaiman’s career and legacy, as well as the impact these allegations will have on his body of work. As more details emerge and the story develops, it is clear that this is a situation that will have far-reaching implications for both Gaiman and the industry as a whole.
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Neil Gaiman, sexual abuse allegations, Dark Horse Comics, Neil Gaiman controversy, Neil Gaiman news, #MeToo movement, author scandal, Dark Horse Comics statement, cancel culture, celebrity misconduct, #BelieveSurvivors
#Neil #Gaiman #facing #multiple #allegations #sexual #abuse #dropped #Dark #Horse #ComicsUS colleges returning to campus sexual assault rules created during Trump’s first term
WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual misconduct must return to policies created during President Donald Trump’s first term, with requirements for live hearings and more protections for accused students, according to new guidance issued Friday by the Education Department.
In a memo to education institutions across the nation, the agency clarified that Title IX, a 1972 law barring discrimination based on sex, will be enforced according to a set of rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The rules govern how complaints of misconduct are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts.
Colleges already have been returning to DeVos’ 2020 rules in recent weeks since a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden administration’s Title IX rules. The court’s decision effectively ordered a return to the earlier Trump administration rules.
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A statement from the Education Department called Biden’s rules an “egregious slight to women and girls.”
“Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges and universities,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
The Biden administration sought to overhaul the rules and expand Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students. It expanded the type of behavior that’s considered sexual harassment — a reversal of the DeVos policy, which used a narrower definition.
But a federal judge in Kentucky overturned Biden’s rule on Jan. 9, saying it was a presidential overstep and violated constitutional free speech rights by telling schools to honor students’ preferred pronouns. The judge, U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, said there was nothing in Title IX suggesting it should cover anything more than it did when Congress created it.
Even before the decision, Biden’s rule had been halted in half the states amid legal challenges from Republicans.
The full text of the Title IX law is just 37 words long, but the federal government has added rules over the years explaining how it’s interpreted. DeVos’ policy adds 500 pages detailing how schools must address complaints and how the Education Department makes sure schools comply.
Already, the Trump administration has taken a hard turn on its enforcement of Title IX: On Tuesday the Education Department said it opened an investigation into Denver schools after the district converted a girl’s restroom into an all-gender restroom while leaving another bathroom exclusive to boys.
The new memo says even investigations that started when Biden’s rules were in effect “should be immediately reoriented to comport fully with the requirements of the 2020 Title IX Rule.”
The change was celebrated by advocates who said Biden’s rules did too little to protect accused students. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said the 2020 rules will ensure fairness, highlighting a requirement that both parties be able to have a lawyer at campus hearings and to review all evidence.
“The return to the 2020 rules ensures that all students — whether they are the accused or the accuser — will receive fair treatment and important procedural safeguards,” said Tyler Coward, lead counsel for government affairs at FIRE.
Victims’ rights groups called it a step backward that will deter students from reporting assaults.
“Schools must step up to protect students in the absence of adequate federal guidance,” said Emma Grasso Levine, senior manager of Title IX policy and programs at Know Your IX, a student-led group.
Among the most controversial elements of DeVos’ policy is a requirement to hold live hearings where accused students can cross-examine their accusers through an adviser. The Biden rule had eliminated the requirement and made live hearings optional, though some courts had previously upheld an accused student’s right to cross examination.
More broadly, the 2020 policy narrows the definition of sexual harassment and the scope of cases that schools must address. It also reduces the liability for colleges, holding them responsible only if they acted with “deliberate indifference.”
Trump’s new pick for education secretary is Linda McMahon, a longtime Trump ally known for building the World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestling empire with her husband, Vince McMahon. Her Senate confirmation hearing has yet to be scheduled.
___
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
In recent weeks, several US colleges and universities have announced plans to revert back to sexual assault rules that were implemented during former President Trump’s first term in office. These rules, which were rolled back by the Biden administration, have sparked controversy and concern among students, faculty, and advocacy groups.The rules, officially known as Title IX regulations, were put in place by the Trump administration in 2020 and aimed to provide more protections for students accused of sexual misconduct. Among the changes included a narrower definition of sexual harassment, higher standards of evidence required for investigations, and the ability for accused students to cross-examine their accusers.
Critics of these rules argue that they create a hostile environment for survivors of sexual assault and make it more difficult for them to seek justice and support on college campuses. They fear that reverting back to these rules will only further harm survivors and discourage them from coming forward.
On the other hand, supporters of the rules argue that they provide due process protections for accused students and ensure a fair and balanced approach to handling sexual misconduct cases on campus.
As colleges and universities navigate this complex and sensitive issue, it is important for them to prioritize the safety and well-being of all students and ensure that their policies and procedures are fair, transparent, and in compliance with Title IX regulations. The debate over these rules is likely to continue as more schools announce their plans for the upcoming academic year.
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- US colleges
- campus sexual assault rules
- Trump administration
- higher education policies
- Title IX regulations
- college campus safety
- student safety measures
- Biden administration updates
- sexual misconduct policies
- campus crime prevention
#colleges #returning #campus #sexual #assault #rules #created #Trumps #term
Under Trump, Schools Tells to Change Sexual Misconduct, Title IX Guidance
The Education Department sent notice to K-12 schools and colleges on Friday that it would revert to policies put out during President Trump’s first term that limited schools’ liability in sexual misconduct cases and afforded stronger rights to students accused of sexual harassment and assault.
The letter also instructed schools not to expect the department to enforce a revised interpretation of Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. That change, announced during the Biden administration, broadened the law’s scope to recognize harassment or exclusion based on sexual orientation and gender identity to be a form of discrimination.
The revised guidance issued Friday instructed educators to once again adopt new standards for enforcing codes against sexual violence and harassment on campus, a process they have had to undertake every four years as rules have whipsawed back and forth under the last four administrations.
The old rules, set in 2018, eased the standards by which the department assessed schools’ liability in sexual misconduct cases, giving schools room to follow different evidentiary standards and appeals processes in investigations. They also required schools to hold live hearings in which accusers and students accused of sexual assault could cross-examine one another, including through a lawyer.
In a break from recent changes surrounding the law, formally known as Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, the letter sent Friday stated that the changes in its implementations could begin immediately, after a federal judge in Kentucky blocked the Biden administration’s revisions from taking effect. That ruling was largely based on the Biden-era rules’ increased protections for transgender students, which the judge found to be unconstitutional.
The letter also leaned on Mr. Trump’s executive authority to justify the immediate return to the old standards, circumventing the more standard practice of proposing new regulations through a lengthy federal rule-making process. It stated that the employees in the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which enforces federal law across schools receiving federal funding, essentially answer to the president.
“As a constitutional matter, the president’s interpretation of the law governs because he alone controls and supervises subordinate officers who exercise discretionary executive power on his behalf,” it said. “That unified control extends to Ed and OCR; therefore, Title IX must be enforced consistent with President Trump’s order.”
Similar changes put forward under former President Barack Obama were also made informally through “dear colleague” letters like the one released on Friday, but informal guidance does not traditionally carry the force of law and can be easily overturned.
Students’ rights groups focused on due process celebrated the development as a restoration of fair standards for those accused of serious offenses.
“The return to the 2020 rules ensures that all students — whether they are the accused or the accuser — will receive fair treatment and important procedural safeguards,” Tyler Coward, a lead counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said in a statement. “That includes the right of both parties to have lawyers present during hearings, the right for both attorneys to cross-examine the other party and witnesses, and the right to receive all of the evidence in the institution’s possession.”
Critics of the rules, dating to Mr. Trump’s first term, have said the requirements for live hearings force victims to relive the trauma of sexual violence and give the schools they attend more room to ignore or informally resolve many serious infractions.
“This is an incredibly disappointing decision that will leave many survivors of sexual violence, LGBTQ+ students, and pregnant and parenting students without the accommodations critical to their ability to learn and attend class safely,” Emma Grasso Levine, a senior manager at Know Your IX, said in a statement. “Schools must step up to protect students in the absence of adequate federal guidance.”
Under Trump, Schools Told to Change Sexual Misconduct, Title IX GuidanceIn a controversial move, the Trump administration has issued new guidelines for how schools should handle cases of sexual misconduct under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities.
These new guidelines, which were released by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, are seen as a major shift from the Obama-era policies that placed a stronger emphasis on protecting survivors of sexual assault. Under the Trump administration’s guidance, schools are now encouraged to give more rights to the accused and to use a higher standard of evidence when determining guilt.
Critics of the new guidelines argue that they will make it harder for survivors of sexual assault to come forward and seek justice, as schools may be less inclined to take their complaints seriously. They also worry that the changes will discourage victims from reporting incidents of sexual misconduct, leading to a culture of silence and impunity on campuses.
Supporters of the new guidelines, however, argue that they provide a fairer and more balanced approach to handling cases of sexual misconduct, ensuring that both the accuser and the accused are given due process rights. They believe that the changes will help prevent false accusations and protect the rights of those who have been wrongly accused.
Overall, the Trump administration’s new guidelines on sexual misconduct and Title IX have sparked a heated debate about how best to address and prevent sexual violence on college campuses. It remains to be seen how schools will implement these changes and what impact they will have on survivors of sexual assault.
Tags:
- Trump administration changes Title IX guidance
- School sexual misconduct policies under Trump
- Implications of new Title IX guidance
- Trump administration’s impact on Title IX regulations
- How schools are adapting to changes in Title IX
- Title IX guidance updates under Trump
- School policies on sexual misconduct under Trump
- Understanding the new Title IX guidance under Trump
- Navigating Title IX changes in schools
- Trump administration and Title IX compliance in schools
#Trump #Schools #Tells #Change #Sexual #Misconduct #Title #Guidance
US colleges returning to campus sexual assault rules created during Trump’s first term
WASHINGTON (AP) — Schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual misconduct must return to policies created during President Donald Trump’s first term, with requirements for live hearings and more protections for accused students, according to new guidance issued Friday by the Education Department.
In a memo to education institutions across the nation, the agency clarified that Title IX, a 1972 law barring discrimination based on sex, will be enforced according to a set of rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The rules govern how complaints of misconduct are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts.
Colleges already have been returning to DeVos’ 2020 rules in recent weeks since a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden administration’s Title IX rules. The court’s decision effectively ordered a return to the earlier Trump administration rules.
A statement from the Education Department called Biden’s rules an “egregious slight to women and girls.”
“Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges and universities,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
The Biden administration sought to overhaul the rules and expand Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students. It expanded the type of behavior that’s considered sexual harassment — a reversal of the DeVos policy, which used a narrower definition.
But a federal judge in Kentucky overturned Biden’s rule on Jan. 9, saying it was a presidential overstep and violated constitutional free speech rights by telling schools to honor students’ preferred pronouns. The judge, U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, said there was nothing in Title IX suggesting it should cover anything more than it did when Congress created it.
Even before the decision, Biden’s rule had been halted in half the states amid legal challenges from Republicans.
The full text of the Title IX law is just 37 words long, but the federal government has added rules over the years explaining how it’s interpreted. DeVos’ policy adds 500 pages detailing how schools must address complaints and how the Education Department makes sure schools comply.
Already, the Trump administration has taken a hard turn on its enforcement of Title IX: On Tuesday the Education Department said it opened an investigation into Denver schools after the district converted a girl’s restroom into an all-gender restroom while leaving another bathroom exclusive to boys.
The new memo says even investigations that started when Biden’s rules were in effect “should be immediately reoriented to comport fully with the requirements of the 2020 Title IX Rule.”
The change was celebrated by advocates who said Biden’s rules did too little to protect accused students. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said the 2020 rules will ensure fairness, highlighting a requirement that both parties be able to have a lawyer at campus hearings and to review all evidence.
“The return to the 2020 rules ensures that all students — whether they are the accused or the accuser — will receive fair treatment and important procedural safeguards,” said Tyler Coward, lead counsel for government affairs at FIRE.
Victims’ rights groups called it a step backward that will deter students from reporting assaults.
“Schools must step up to protect students in the absence of adequate federal guidance,” said Emma Grasso Levine, senior manager of Title IX policy and programs at Know Your IX, a student-led group.
Among the most controversial elements of DeVos’ policy is a requirement to hold live hearings where accused students can cross-examine their accusers through an adviser. The Biden rule had eliminated the requirement and made live hearings optional, though some courts had previously upheld an accused student’s right to cross examination.
More broadly, the 2020 policy narrows the definition of sexual harassment and the scope of cases that schools must address. It also reduces the liability for colleges, holding them responsible only if they acted with “deliberate indifference.”
Trump’s new pick for education secretary is Linda McMahon, a longtime Trump ally known for building the World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestling empire with her husband, Vince McMahon. Her Senate confirmation hearing has yet to be scheduled.
___
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
In a controversial move, many US colleges are considering reverting back to the sexual assault rules put in place during former President Trump’s first term. These rules, which were criticized for potentially making it more difficult for victims of sexual assault to come forward and seek justice, were rolled back by the Biden administration earlier this year.The decision to return to these rules has sparked outrage among advocates for survivors of sexual assault, who argue that the rules prioritize the rights of the accused over the safety and well-being of the victims. They fear that this move could deter survivors from reporting incidents of sexual assault and further perpetuate a culture of silence and impunity on college campuses.
On the other hand, supporters of the Trump-era rules argue that they provide a more fair and balanced approach to handling cases of sexual assault, ensuring due process for the accused while also protecting the rights of the victims. They believe that these rules are necessary to prevent false accusations and protect the rights of all parties involved.
As colleges grapple with the decision of whether to reinstate these rules, the debate over how to best address sexual assault on campus continues to be a contentious and complex issue. Overall, the decision to revert back to these rules will undoubtedly impact the way colleges handle cases of sexual assault and the experiences of survivors on campus.
Tags:
- US colleges
- campus sexual assault rules
- Trump administration
- higher education policies
- Title IX regulations
- student safety measures
- college campus safety
- sexual misconduct policies
- student rights
- campus assault prevention.
#colleges #returning #campus #sexual #assault #rules #created #Trumps #term
Julie Stewart-Binks on a career derailed by alleged sexual assault: ‘What could my life have been?’
Last week, Julie Stewart-Binks sat in an empty lounge on the rooftop of a hotel near her apartment in New York City. She is about to watch a clip from her time as a Fox Sports host and reporter. It is a moment that she thinks about often, but one that she has never wanted to relive in full. She hits play on the video, then her hands jerk back toward her chest, as if bracing for a blow.
In the clip, Stewart-Binks, then a 28-year-old Fox Sports 1 on-air personality, is on the set of a pop-up show – “Jason Whitlock’s House Party By the Bay” – for the 2016 Super Bowl in San Francisco. The set is meant to evoke a Super Bowl party. Red Solo cups. Beers chilling in an ice bucket on the coffee table. Whitlock and the day’s guest – New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski – are behind a desk; Stewart-Binks is on a gray couch flanking them.
The group is discussing Gronkowski’s disclosure that he moonlighted as a stripper in college. Stewart-Binks then says: “If you have a chance to make some more money, using maybe me as an example, do you want to show us a little ‘Magic Mike?’” (A reference to the 2012 movie about male exotic dancers.) Gronkowski, a little surprised, asks Stewart-Binks if she wants a lap dance, to which she replies: “Yeah.” Gronkowski seems to be stalling. He asks about music and remarks: “Where are your friends? I would need, like, a bachelorette party?” Stewart-Binks keeps urging him on, as does Whitlock, and Gronkowski eventually moves from behind the desk, over to the couch. He dances briefly in front of Stewart-Binks, then straddles her and thrusts his hips toward her, grinding on her as the cameras roll. Stewart-Binks, laughing, takes out some crumpled dollar bills and hands them to Gronkowski. The dancing lasts about six seconds.
As she watches the clip, Stewart-Binks’ face reddens and her chest breaks out in hives. She begins to cry. “I will spend my entire life trying to make up for this,” she says, wiping away tears with a shaking hand. “I will die trying to make up for this moment that’s clearly not who I am.”
The Gronkowski segment was the defining moment in Stewart-Binks’ four years at FS1 (2013-16). As the clip spread across the internet, FS1 was derided as a “circus act,” but Stewart-Binks took the brunt of the criticism. She was accused of setting back the efforts of women working in sports journalism and betraying feminism entirely. Some of the criticism came from friends and colleagues.
Now, she wants those critics to know why she participated in the segment, and providing that context requires sharing what she says happened to her in the days beforehand.
On Friday, Stewart-Binks, 37, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Fox and Charlie Dixon, an executive vice president and head of content at Fox Sports and FS1, the company’s sports network. In that lawsuit, she alleges that about a week before the Gronkowski segment she was sexually assaulted by Dixon during a meeting at a hotel that he organized under the auspices of talking about her Super Bowl week duties. Dixon is also a defendant in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by former FS1 hairstylist Noushin Faraji. In Faraji’s complaint, she claimed that “executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity,” and she alleged that Dixon groped her at a co-worker’s birthday party in January 2017, among other allegations.
Dixon did not respond to text, voice and email messages seeking comment. Fox Sports said in 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.”
Days after the alleged assault, when producers in San Francisco told her that FS1 wanted a viral moment out of Gronkowski, she said she never considered the implications of the stunt, only what would happen if she refused with Dixon watching from the set. “I was in a really f—ed-up place that I could not tell people about,” she said.
In her complaint, Stewart-Binks said she detailed the allegations against Dixon to a Fox human resources official in 2017 but that Fox “egregiously made the deliberate decision to protect Dixon and allow a sexual predator to remain an executive at Fox for nearly a decade.”
“They knew and didn’t do anything about it,” Stewart-Binks said in an interview earlier this month. “It meant they didn’t care about the damage done to me and how it affected others.” She then added: “This has been accepted for so long. I’m sitting here wanting it to be different.”
Fox Sports executive vice president Charlie Dixon in 2018. (Travis P. Ball / Getty Images)
Stewart-Binks grew up in Toronto, and her mother was a broadcast reporter and her father worked in the medical device industry. She played right wing on a boys’ house league hockey team and also trained as a figure skater and a cellist.
She attended Queen’s University and obtained degrees in both drama and physical and health education but developed a passion for broadcasting and later got a master’s degree in international broadcast journalism from what is now known as City St George’s, University of London.
Her entry into sports journalism in Canada was scrappy and unglamorous. She covered Ontario Hockey League games on a volunteer basis, staying at a friend’s house in Kingston, then taking a bus to Niagara, where she’d bunk with her grandmother in a retirement community. Later, as a reporter and anchor for CTV in Regina, Saskatchewan, she drove across the Canadian prairies shooting and editing sports television packages on curling and anchoring the nightly newscasts. To save money, she lived out of a friend’s basement.
In 2013, she was plucked out of relative obscurity by an agent at Octagon (the late John Ferriter) and flown to Los Angeles to meet with Fox Sports executives and screen test for the launch of FS1. She was hired by the fledgling network as an update anchor and went on to host “Fox Soccer Daily.” She also worked as a sideline reporter for Major League Soccer, hosted FS1’s coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics and covered the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She spent 65 days on the road that summer and was tabbed as one of Awful Announcing’s “Rising Stars.”
But, according to her complaint, by early 2016, her allies within FS1 — executives like Scott Ackerson and Rick Jaffe — had departed and a new regime — Dixon and fellow executive Jamie Horowitz — were in place with a new vision for the network.
Stewart-Binks still liked her job. She got to cover soccer and hockey – sports she loved – and work as an anchor and a host. She was part of a tight-knit group that helped launch FS1. But her future was uncertain. The network had until April 1, 2016, to pick up a one-year option in her contract. If it did not, she would lose a high-profile job. She felt she needed to show the Dixon-Horowitz regime that she was a versatile and dynamic talent.
When Whitlock requested her to be a part of his show during the 2016 Super Bowl week, she felt she had an opening to do that. And then Dixon asked her to come to his hotel, writing that he wanted to “go over expectation(s)” before a group meeting the next day, according to her complaint. After receiving that text, Stewart-Binks shared her excitement with a friend about getting face time with her boss and curated her outfit for the meeting – a suede jacket and designer heels – hoping to convey style and professionalism.
The lawsuit sets out in detail how they met at the bar at a hotel in Marina del Rey, Calif. She ordered a single glass of white wine. Dixon asked what she had been told about her role on Whitlock’s show during Super Bowl week. He then told her he didn’t think she should be going to the Super Bowl at all and that she was ill-suited to host and wasn’t funny or interesting or talented enough to draw in viewers.
In an interview, Stewart-Binks said she was shocked and confused by Dixon’s remarks. Why was he denigrating her so strongly, and, just before she went on an important assignment for the network? She tried to stay calm, even when he remarked, according to the complaint, that the only way anyone would be willing to watch her was if she “got up on this bar and took your top off” and then added: “You’re not hot enough to be a hot girl on TV.” She said in her interview with The Athletic that she responded to Dixon: “I didn’t get my master’s degree in ‘hot girl.’”
Stewart-Binks said Dixon’s tone then changed. He stopped criticizing her and asked about her professional aspirations. The complaint states that Dixon then ordered two beers from the bar and urged her to come to his room and drink them, adding that he had a great view from his balcony. She didn’t think it was a good idea, she said in her interview and in the complaint, but she felt she couldn’t say no to her boss.
“You have autonomy over yourself to say ‘no’ and leave. But you don’t, and you say ‘yes’ because he held the power to everything,” Stewart-Binks told The Athletic.
The legal complaint describes Dixon’s shirts – colorful tees with slogans and pictures – laid out on one of the beds in his room. Dixon suggested they step out on the balcony. Once outside, Dixon, according to the complaint, “swiftly pushed her against the wall of the hotel and pinned her arms to her side. With her arms forcefully held down and his body pressed against hers, Dixon tried to force his tongue into her mouth.” Stewart-Binks’ mouth remained shut but 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. Stewart-Binks seized the moment of partial freedom to push him away, say ‘get off of me’ and rapidly leave the hotel room.”
Once in her car, she called the same friend with whom she had earlier shared her excitement about meeting with Dixon. “I remember getting a very upset phone call,” the friend told The Athletic. “It was the overall disappointment of ‘I can’t believe an executive did this.’” Stewart-Binks later called her mother, according to the complaint, and the two women concluded that it would imperil her career if she spoke out about what Dixon had allegedly done.
Stewart-Binks went back to work frightened about the implications of fending off Dixon and also what his remarks about her lack of talent meant for her career going forward. At a meeting the day after the alleged assault, she said Dixon ignored her. She believed her future was “very much hanging in the balance” as she arrived in San Francisco for Super Bowl week. Her anxiety was ramped up by producers there who were hell-bent to “make a moment” that would garner attention, she said.
“I was told … that I was not capable of being able to do a moment like this on television. And that I was not interesting, funny, talented, smart. And so I felt the need to prove that I was all in, and that I was not scared to do something like (the Gronkowski stunt). Had I not (done it), I would have felt like I failed and that I would have confirmed what (Dixon) told me.”
The reaction to her role in the Gronkowski segment surprised and stung her, she said in an interview. People she knew in the industry, some whom she considered friends, were among those voicing their disappointment with her choice to participate. Her co-worker and friend, Katie Nolan, told GQ that she disapproved of the bit. (Nolan later apologized to Stewart-Binks in a podcast and clarified her remarks.) Stewart-Binks recalled receiving a text message from Grant Wahl, the late Sports Illustrated soccer writer she admired, that read: “That’s not who you are.”
Fox promoted the Gronkowski segment on social media and elsewhere. The network got its viral moment. But when the backlash grew strong enough, Fox stopped, and the same men in the production meeting eager to “make a moment” went largely silent. Stewart-Binks’ bosses didn’t address the incident at length until six weeks later; Horowitz said at that time that he was supportive of Stewart-Binks for doing a “fun bit” and thought Gronkowski “maybe … took it a half step too far.”
In her lawsuit, Stewart-Binks said the network instructed her not to comment on the incident, and her agency, CAA, advised her to ride it out. Less than two months after the Super Bowl, Stewart-Binks was informed that Fox would not pick up her contract option with one executive telling her that there was “nothing for her to do here,” according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, Stewart-Binks was contacted by a Fox human resources official in June 2017 and asked about Horowitz’s behavior when Stewart-Binks worked at Fox Sports. Stewart-Binks didn’t have anything substantive to share about Horowitz, but the complaint states that she disclosed to the HR official what Dixon allegedly said to her in their January 2016 meeting and what allegedly happened in his hotel room afterward.
Horowitz was fired following the probe, but Dixon remained at the company.
After Fox, Stewart-Binks worked as a part-time soccer reporter for ESPN, a rinkside reporter for NHL on TNT, a host for BetRivers Sportsbook Network, did stand-up comedy, was a host for the CBC’s 2024 Olympic coverage, among other jobs. She’s continued to scrap to find work but believes the Gronkowski segment has impacted her ability to get other jobs.
When the Faraji lawsuit against Fox and Dixon was filed, Stewart-Binks received text messages from people she had told about her interactions with Dixon. On page eight of the 42-page complaint, there is a reference to a host who reported Dixon to the company. She believed that Faraji, with whom she worked at FS1, was referencing her. Reading about what Faraji allegedly endured was a “tipping point,” Stewart-Binks said. “I didn’t want to hold onto it anymore.”
Stewart-Binks said she has experienced bouts of self-doubt since leaving Fox Sports, Dixon’s criticism of her abilities still ringing in her ears. “I had a different view of what my life would be like than what it is. And I’m very grateful for everything I have. But sometimes I think … well, what could my life have been had this not happened?”
(Top photo: Hatnim Lee for The Athletic)
Julie Stewart-Binks on a career derailed by alleged sexual assault: ‘What could my life have been?’In a recent interview, sports journalist Julie Stewart-Binks opened up about how her career was derailed by an alleged sexual assault that occurred early in her career. Stewart-Binks, who had been on the fast track to success in the sports media industry, revealed that the trauma of the assault led to a downward spiral that took years to overcome.
Stewart-Binks shared that the assault occurred while she was working at a major sports network, and that she felt pressured to keep quiet about it in order to protect her career. The emotional toll of the assault caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety, and she eventually left the industry altogether.
Reflecting on her career and the opportunities that were lost due to the assault, Stewart-Binks expressed a sense of regret and sadness. She wondered aloud, “What could my life have been if this hadn’t happened to me?”
Despite the setbacks she faced, Stewart-Binks has found a way to rebuild her life and pursue new opportunities outside of the sports media industry. She has become an advocate for survivors of sexual assault, using her platform to raise awareness and support others who have experienced similar traumas.
Stewart-Binks’ story is a powerful reminder of the devastating impact that sexual assault can have on the lives and careers of survivors. It serves as a call to action for the industry to do more to support and protect its employees, and to create a culture where survivors feel safe coming forward and seeking justice.
As Stewart-Binks continues to heal and move forward with her life, she remains hopeful that her story will inspire others to speak out and seek help. She is determined to use her voice to create positive change and to ensure that no one else has to endure the same struggles she faced.
Tags:
Julie Stewart-Binks, sexual assault, career derailment, Julie Stewart-Binks interview, career impact of sexual assault, women in sports journalism, #MeToo movement, overcoming adversity, sexual harassment in the workplace
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