A lawsuit from a hairdresser against Fox Sports accusing network executive Charlie Dixon and longtime show host Skip Bayless of making unwanted sexual advances could entangle more litigants as it makes its way through court.
Marcellus Wiley, the former co-host of FS1’s Speak for Yourself, said he’s considering suing the network for conspiring to replace him on the show with Joy Taylor, who allegedly curried the favor of Dixon with sexual favors and dismissed concerns from the hairdresser, Noushin Faraji, of sexual harassment.
“I’m trying to take that look right now,” Wiley said in an interview Wednesday with Jason Whitlock.
As Faraji pursues discovery over the extent of network executives’ awareness of the alleged misconduct, she also said she may name Fox Sports president Mark Silverman and Fox Sports chief executive Eric Shanks in the lawsuit.
“Fox’s failure to prevent harassment perpetuated a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity,” stated the complaint.
In a lawsuit filed on Jan. 3 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Faraji sued Fox Sports, Dixon and Skip Bayless for sexual battery and hostile work environment. She accused Dixon of “rubbing her body and grabbing her buttocks” at a birthday party in 2017 for Taylor and Bayless, who allegedly offered her $1.5 million for sex, of repeatedly pressing his body against her and kissing her cheeks. Fox allegedly fired her at Dixon’s direction for disclosing information about his sexual relationships with network employees, according to the complaint.
Caught up in the lawsuit is some of Fox Sport’s top broadcasting talent, including ex-Speak for Yourself host Emmanuel Acho, who was also allegedly engaged in a relationship with Taylor. In 2022, the show was rebranded as Speak, with Taylor replacing Wiley, while Acho co-hosts The Facility.
When the lawsuit was filed, Wiley said in an interview that he realized he got “squeezed because Charlie and Joy and Acho are all running the triangle on me.”
The proposed class action also seeks to represent other Fox employees who allegedly weren’t paid the required minimum and overtime wages.
Fox Sports didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.