In an internal memo obtained by Newsweek, Scott and Wallace addressed Fox News employees about the complaint and the investigation, and reiterated the policies and procedures regarding sexual harassment put in place several years ago.
“We’d like to bring a very serious matter to your attention in an effort toward full transparency given the many actions we have taken to improve our culture here over the last four years,” the memo began.
“On Thursday, June 25, we received a complaint about Ed Henry from a former employee’s attorney involving willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago,” the email continued. “We immediately retained an outside law firm (which has never represented FOX News in investigations or litigations) to independently investigate the claims. Ed was suspended in the same day and removed from his on-air responsibilities pending investigation. Based on investigation findings, Ed has been terminated.”
The memo emphasized that Fox News “strictly prohibits all forms of sexual harassment, misconduct, and discrimination.” The conservative-leaning news network said they would “continue striving to maintain a safe and inclusive workplace for all employees.”
Scott and Wallace also repeated the media company’s sexual harassment policies and procedures that were put in place after the highly publicized investigation of former CEO Roger Ailes. “We encourage any employee who has a sexual harassment, discrimination or misconduct complaint of any form to report it immediately, as we have said repeatedly over the last four years.”
Henry began working at Fox News in 2011 after serving as CNN’s senior White House correspondent. He was promoted to a news anchor in December 2019, anchoring three hours of morning news coverage for Fox. In the meantime, rotating anchors will co-anchor America’s Newsroom from New York with Sandra Smith until a permanent replacement is found, the internal memo noted.
This isn’t the first time Henry has been scrutinized for inappropriate behavior. According to Variety, he took off several months from Fox News in 2016 after a tabloid reported that he was having an affair with a woman in Las Vegas. At the time, the conservative-leaning news network noted that they were “aware of Ed’s personal issues” and said that Henry would “be taking some time off to work things out.”
Updated 7/1/2020, 10:16 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to reflect Newsweek obtained the internal memo from Fox News.
