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Fox News producer Abby Grossberg recently filed a lawsuit against the channel and alleged that she was “coerced, intimidated and misinformed” by the network’s lawyers into providing misleading testimony as part of the $1.6 billion defamation case filed by Dominion Voting System against the company.
Grossberg reportedly filed two lawsuits against Fox News in Delaware Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. CNN obtained paperwork filed in the Delaware lawsuit that read:
“Fox News Attorneys acted as agents and at the behest of Fox News to misleadingly coach, manipulate, and coerce Ms. Grossberg to deliver shaded and/or incomplete answers during her sworn deposition testimony, which answers were clearly to her reputational detriment but greatly benefitted Fox News.”
The lawsuit also mentioned that the Fox legal team’s “concerted efforts and actions” compelled Grossberg to testify in a manner that eventually presented facts “in a false light.” The producer alleged that the network wanted to “shift culpability” from senior Fox News executives and “away from Fox Corporation.”
Abby Grossberg also made allegations of s*xism and misogyny against Fox News in her lawsuit. She claimed that superior male executives often made derogatory remarks about hosts on the network.
Grossberg reportedly joined Fox News as a producer and booker in March 2019. She previously worked as a senior booking producer for Maria Bartiromo before becoming the head of booking for Tucker Carlson.
Reports suggest that Fox News allegedly placed Grossberg on forced leave following her lawsuit against the network.
A closer look into Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit against Fox News
Fox news producer Abby Grossberg recently made news after filing a lawsuit against the channel, accusing its legal team of coercing and intimidating her into giving misleading testimony ahead of her deposition in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against Fox last September.
The legal controversy began after Dominion filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corporation and Fox News, alleging that the network “recklessly disregarded the truth” during the 2020 U.S. presidential election and helped promote several pro-Trump conspiracies about election fraud.
In its lawsuit, Dominion claimed that Fox News defamed the company when it allowed air-time to pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The company alleged that the attorneys pushed a false conspiracy theory and claimed that Dominion Voting Systems flipped Donald Trump’s votes to Joe Biden but Fox News hosts did not potentially argue against the claims.
Dominion claimed that “the lies were good for Fox’s business.” However, the network strongly denied the allegations and said that it reported fairly on the claims made by Trump. The channel also argued that Dominion's lawsuit is an assault on free speech.
During Abby Grossberg’s deposition in the lawsuit, Dominion’s attorneys questioned her about an email Powell sent to Maria Bartiromo. The lawyers also shared text messages between Grossberg and Baritromo about the 2020 election where the former allegedly wrote:
“To be honest, our audience doesn't want to hear about a peaceful transition.”
When the attorneys asked Grossberg if she thought it was important to correct someone who was saying something untrue, the latter replied with a “no.”
Abby Grossberg now alleges that Fox’s legal team allegedly supported her “misleading and evasive answers” during the disposition instead of suggesting that she said what she really felt because it would allow Grossberg to “unwittingly” shift responsibility from higher executives of the network onto herself.
The producer also claimed that she was not allowed to review and correct the transcripts of her deposition like her male colleagues but was cited in Dominion’s legal briefs only once.
According to CNN, Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, recently asked to be dropped as a party in Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit, claiming that it does not play a major role in deciding the coverage on the channel.
In her own lawsuit against Fox News, Abby Grossberg accused the network’s legal team of engaging in wrongful conduct while preparing her for a pre-trial deposition in Dominion’s defamation case.
She also accused the network and some of its higher executives of s*xism and misogyny. In her suit, Grossberg implied that she was passed over for a top position on Marie Bartiromo’s Sunday Mornings Futures show because the network allegedly preferred a male candidate to fill the role.
The producer alleged that Fox News executives often made alleged derogatory comments about female employees like hosts Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. She claimed that some even dubbed Bartiromo as a “crazy b***h” and “menopausal.”
Abby Grossberg went on to claim that she was horrified by the environment when she started working on The Tucker Carlson Show. She alleged that on her first day, she saw her workplace being decorated with large photos of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “in a plunging bathing suit.”
The lawsuit, as obtained by CNN, noted:
“Grossberg was mortified by what she was witnessing and began to experience a sinking feeling in her stomach as it became apparent how pervasive the misogyny and drive to embarrass and objectify women was among the male staff at Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
In the lawsuit filed in New York, Grossberg reiterated the allegations of misogyny and also alleged that there was a culture of making anti-Semitic jokes. The woman named Carlson and members of his staff in the lawsuit.
Abby Grossberg’s lawyer Parisis G. Filippatos, said that the former had “ample documentary evidence in all forms to support a broad swath” of the allegations she made in the lawsuits.
Grossberg told CNN that she sued Fox News in the hope that it would bring a change to the network. She added that she believed it “was the only step” she had to take to regain her pride and save her career.
The producer also mentioned that she wanted to “expose the lies and deceit” that she “witnessed for years” on two of Fox News’ biggest shows.
How did Fox News respond to Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit?
On the day Abby Grossberg sued Fox News, the network also filed a lawsuit against her to stop her from suing the channel.
The company claimed that the producer threatened to sue Fox over discrimination and retaliation. A spokesperson for the network told Insider:
“Ms. Grossberg has threatened to disclose FOX News Media's attorney-client privileged information and we have filed a temporary restraining order to protect our rights.”
The spokesperson also defended the network against the allegations made by Abby Grossberg and said that some of the concerns raised by the producer were made after a critical performance review:
“Fox News Media engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review. We will vigorously defend these claims.”
The network was also reportedly seeking a restraining order against Abby Grossberg to prevent her from divulging privileged information in her lawsuit that would the network to “suffer immediate irreparable harm.”
Grossberg and her attorney argued against Fox News’ claims that her complaints only came after a critical performance review. Filippatos told CNN:
“It’s another example of Fox News not only shying away from the truth, but attempting to bury the truth.”
Meanwhile, Grossberg said:
“Fox just does not care. It summarizes everything perfectly. They don’t care about their employees … and they don’t care about their viewers.”
On Tuesday, Fox News dropped the lawsuit against Abby Grossberg.
