Fired Fox News host Ed Henry sues NPR and CNN correspondents for defamation

Ed Henry, who was fired last July by Fox News Channel over a sexual misconduct allegation, filed multiple lawsuits this week for defamation, including one against NPR and CNN correspondents and another against Fox News and its CEO Suzanne Scott.

In a complaint filed Thursday in the U.S District Court in New York, Henry is seeking actual and punitive damages from NPR correspondent David Folkenflik and CNN correspondents Alisyn Camerota and Brian Stelter for acting with "malice" by "intentionally or recklessly making false statements" about him while reporting on his Fox News departure. 

The cable news network fired Henry after Fox Media completed an independent investigation into a former employee's sexual misconduct claim.

In Thursday's lawsuit, Henry pointed to a tweet from Folkenflik, which reported that in 2017, Fox executives were warned about a history of misconduct from Henry, which the former White House correspondent said was defamatory and framed him in a "false light." 

The claims against CNN's Stelter and Camerota stem from their on-air conversation during a July 2020 episode of CNN's "New Day" during which the two discussed Henry having a history of misconduct.

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Henry said some of the conversation relied on the "false report" from Folkenflik and that Stelter "recklessly republished Mr. Folkenflik’s allegation without confirming its authenticity." 

NPR responded to the claim Friday. "NPR stands behind David Folkenflik’s reporting and will vigorously defend it against this meritless claim," said Isabel Lara, NPR’s executive director of communications, in a statement. "Millions of Americans trust NPR to provide accurate information about the world and their communities every day; we take this responsibility very seriously."

Henry's lawyer Ty Clevenger said in a statement to USA TODAY that his client is a "journalist's journalist" and "reluctantly" filed the lawsuit against NPR and CNN, but said the networks "will be held accountable for what they've done." 

USA TODAY has also reached out to CNN for comment.

Henry filed a separate lawsuit the same day against several websites and Twitter handles who shared similar allegations against the former correspondent.

These defamation claims come a day after Henry filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, against Fox News and its CEO. The lawsuit seeks punitive damages and states the network's CEO Scott "sandbagged" him with a July 1, 2020, statement saying a former employee had accused Henry of sexual misconduct a week earlier and he was being fired after the findings of an external investigation.  

The Wednesday lawsuit by Henry says Scott's statement lent "credence to the false allegations because she was trying to save her own career and burnish her image as a tough, no nonsense female executive who cleaned up Fox News. In reality, however, Ms. Scott had long been an instrument to cover up the existence of sexual misconduct at Fox News," adding she "has repeatedly covered up sexual misconduct by senior Fox News management." 

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Henry's lawsuit against Fox News came a day after the New York City Commission on Human Rights fined Fox News $1 million in a settlement stemming from a sexual harassment investigation, the highest civil penalty in the commission's history. 

The network rejected Henry's argument in a statement to USA TODAY.

“As we stated one year ago, Fox News Media conducted a thorough independent investigation into Ed Henry immediately after we were made aware of a serious misconduct claim against him by a former employee," the statement read. "We are fully prepared to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations as Mr. Henry further embarrasses himself in a lawsuit rife with inaccuracies after driving his personal life into the ground with countless extramarital affairs in a desperate attempt for relevance and redemption.”

Fox News Media praised Scott's performance on corporate culture issues in a separate statement.

The company has "worked tirelessly" under Scott's leadership "to transform the company culture, implementing annual, mandatory in-person harassment prevention training, creating an entirely new reporting structure, more than tripling the size of our HR footprint, conducting quarterly company meetings and mentoring events, as well as executing a zero tolerance policy regarding workplace misconduct for which we engage outside independent firms to handle investigations," the statement said. 

Henry's lawsuit also accuses Scott of "whitewashing" sexual misconduct by network employees, including an alleged affair between a company subordinate and Fox News President Jay Wallace, who co-signed the statement regarding Henry's termination with Scott.

Fox News Media rejected Henry's allegation. “Fox conducted a full and independent investigation of the claims against Jay Wallace – he was cleared of any wrongdoing and the allegations are false.”

Weeks after Henry's firing in 2020, the former employee who made the complaint that resulted in his ouster sued him, alleging rape. She sued Fox, too, and claimed network executives knew of his alleged behavior and ignored it. 

Henry rejected the allegations, filing for dismissal of the suit by calling it "malicious and defamatory," and Fox denied any wrongdoing, saying it took "swift action" in letting Henry go shortly after learning of the matter.

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