A former Fox Sports reporter and anchor filed a lawsuit Friday against the network and top executive Charlie Dixon, saying he sexually assaulted her after coaxing her up to his hotel room to discuss Super Bowl plans in 2016 and was later pushed out of her job for fighting back.
Julie Stewart-Binks said in her complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, that she was inspired to speak up after a former hairstylist for Fox Sports filed a lawsuit on Jan. 5 saying a former host had made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward her and that Dixon had groped her.
Andrew Fegyveresi, a spokesperson for Fox, said in an email that the claims had been addressed.
“These allegations are from over eight years ago,” his email said. “At the time, we promptly hired a third-party firm to investigate and addressed the matter based on their findings.”
Fegyveresi did not respond to a request to elaborate on what the investigation found or how their findings were addressed.
The Associated Press does not generally identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or subjected to abuse unless they have given permission to identify them. Stewart-Binks’ lawyers said she gave the AP permission to use her name.
Stewart-Binks covered soccer and hockey in Canada and moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to join the team at Fox Sports 1, the lawsuit said. She was invited to cover the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as a host and returned to report on the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, the Stanley Cup playoffs and the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams. In the fall of 2014, she was the main sideline reporter for the Anaheim Ducks.
Jamie Horowitz became president of Fox Sports in May 2015 and hired Dixon two months later to be the executive vice president of content, the lawsuit said. “The two had the power to pick and choose who would be on camera for the networks,” the lawsuit said.
In the buildup to the 2016 Super Bowl, plans were underway for the show “Jason Whitlock’s House Party By the Bay” and Stewart-Binks was told she was going to appear on the program, the lawsuit said. The night before her meeting with the show’s team, she received a text from Dixon asking her to meet him at his hotel, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Dixon told her they needed to talk about the show, and then began berating her, saying he didn’t want her going to the Super Bowl because she wasn’t “funny, interesting or talented.” He said she wasn’t “capable of handling big moments on TV” and people would only watch if she got on the bar and took off her top,” the lawsuit said.
As Stewart-Binks scrambled to come up with a response that would show her talent, Dixon invited her to his hotel room to see the view from his balcony, the suit said. She agreed, reluctantly. But once on the balcony, Dixon pushed her against the wall, pinned down her arms, pressed his body against hers and tried to force his tongue into her mouth, the lawsuit said.
Stewart-Binks pushed him away and ran from the room, the suit said. She didn’t say anything about it at the team’s Super Bowl meeting the following day and she was confirmed to appear on the Whitlock show. However, she was told that she had to confront New England Patriots tight end Ron Gronkowski about his stint at a stripper in college.
She resisted the idea of asking for his “Magic Mike” moves but after Dixon’s comments the night before, she wanted to prove that she could be fun, so she asked for a lap dance, the lawsuit said.
Stewart-Binks said she faced an immediate backlash on social media from people who said she was setting women back through her actions.
“Following Fox’s direction, Stewart-Binks remained silent outwardly, though Dixon’s assault and the media’s portrayal of her took a profound emotional toll and left her in tears much of the time,” the lawsuit said.
She only went public after seeing the lawsuit filed by the former Fox hairstylist who made similar claims. Stewart-Binks’ lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for emotional distress and asks that Fox be required to take action to prevent any current or future sexual abuse.
“Ms. Stewart-Binks hopes that by seeking justice, and by doing so publicly, sports networks will recognize the necessity of ridding those who abuse power and those who protect them,” the lawsuit said.
Since leaving Fox Sports, Stewart-Binks has done work for many media outlets including ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and TNT. She also was a correspondent for the CBC in Canada during its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
— AP Sports reporter Joe Reedy in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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