Lawsuit Claims Fox News Forced Black Employees To Arm Wrestle

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Seven more Fox News employees are suing the network for racial harassment, claiming that black women staffers were forced to fight for the amusement and pleasure of their white superiors.

NY Daily News reports:

The employees, who are black, will add their names to the suit claiming ousted comptroller Judith Slater hurled racial insults and pitted employees against each other, according to New York Magazine.

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The expanding legal case suggests that the accounting department festered under former CEO Roger Ailes’ management and includes a claim that Slater forced black employees to arm wrestle white peers at their Midtown headquarters.

“Forcing a black woman employee to ‘fight’ for the amusement and pleasure of her white superiors is horrifying,” wrote lawyers on behalf of the seven defendants.

The letter — obtained by the magazine — states that the arm wrestling competitions were offensive, humiliating and “reminiscent of Jim Crow era battle royals.”

Additionally, the suit will allege Fox News accounting director Tammy Efinger was complicit in Slater’s prejudice.

“Not once did Ms. Efinger step in or attempt to interfere with Ms. Slater’s outrageous conduct,” the magazine reports the documents as stating, adding that Efinger “chose to laugh or giggle following Ms. Slater’s vitriol.”

The employees slated to join the suit were not immediately identified.

Slater was fired amid the brewing litigation on March 24. The case was amended with a third defendant a week after its filing.

Fox News’ manager for credit collection, Monica Douglas, believes Slater wasn’t fired sooner because she “knew too much” about Ailes, who resigned in 2016.

The mounting charges come as Fox News cut ties with Bill O’Reilly, after $13 million pay outs to sexual harassment accusers were made public.