(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) As former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s star continues to grow since his abrupt severance from the network last April, the feud between the media juggernauts appears to be getting even more acrimonious.
With an explosive new sexual assault allegation against Carlson’s executive producer, Justin Wells, involving former Fox employee Andrew Delancy, the plot may thicken yet again.
Delancy alleges that Wells sexually harassed and assaulted him when they both worked for Fox in 2008. His attorneys submitted the complaint in a New York federal court on Monday, according to Mediaite.
He said the incident took place when Wells worked as a producer on Greta Van Susteren’s show, before he helped launch Carlson’s show and eventually became its senior executive producer.
Wells still works for Carlson on his new show, Tucker on X, as he faced termination from Fox along with the newscaster in April.
The complaint filed on Monday detailed a history of Wells grooming Delancey, with the former encouraging the latter to apply to positions in New York City, giving him exorbitant gifts and offering reminders that “he held higher status at the Network and could, in turn, affect Mr. Delancey’s career trajectory.”
Delancey said he accepted an invitation to Wells’s apartment for a drink, believing other Fox employees would be present. That is where the assault allegedly took place.
The complaint also characterized sexual misbehavior as a commonplace occurrence in the Fox News office, even calling it “a workplace where sexual harassment notoriously runs rampant.”
A female colleague purportedly confided in Delancey, claiming that Wells sexually harassed her, as well, but received no support from the network after reporting the misbehavior.
The complaint concluded by claiming Wells used his professional clout to take revenge on Delancey for rejecting his advances.
Harmeet Dhillon, Wells’s attorney, made a statement denying the claims in the complaint.
“This meritless legal action was filed 15 years after the alleged incident and mere days before the extended statute of limitations would have run,” the statement read.
It is unclear whether the extended statute applied to New York’s controversial Adult Survivors Act, the deadline for which lapsed on Nov. 23.
“Mr. Wells denies the allegations unequivocally, and will contest them vigorously,” Dhillon continued. “This is yet another attempt by a law firm with a history of suing Fox and its former employees to cash in on frivolous allegations.”
Carlson reacted to the news of the lawsuit as well.
“As a general matter, if you believe you’ve been the victim of a sex crime, you have a moral obligation to alert police, so it doesn’t happen to someone else,” Carlson said in a statement to the media. “If a man waits 15 years to cash in with a civil suit, no one should take him seriously. I certainly don’t.”
