Fox News co-host Tyrus sent a series of lewd text messages to former co-host Britt McHenry, commenting on her “boobs” and threatening to send “another d— pic,” according to a HuffPost report late Thursday.
HuffPost’s Yashar Ali cited four unnamed individuals “familiar with the texts’ contents” — which resulted in a sexual harassment complaint from McHenry and his removal from the “Un-PC” show they had co-hosted on Fox News’ streaming service since its launch last fall. Tyrus, a former WWE wrestler under the name Brodus Clay, was given his own show on Fox Nation, “NuffSaid.”
In June, company reps said that McHenry’s complaints had been “independently investigated,” and that the network considered “the matter resolved.”
But the graphic nature of the communications between Tyrus and McHenry could raise new questions about the network’s handling of the matter.
According to HuffPost, Tyrus’ texts included comments like, “Just pull your boobs out now why don’t you. Just grin and bare it,” and, “keep being negative and I’ll send you another dick pic.”
Ali also reported Tyrus sent this one:
“I love the fact your always working if we ever had sex I feel like after an orgazzum you say speaking of feeling good did see the story on the puppy rescue we should do a segment on it hand me my phone.”
Tyrus did not respond to TheWrap’s requests for comment.
In his report, Ali noted that Fox News employees of misconduct are typically suspended pending an outside investigation, but that Tyrus was not suspended. In June, Fox News did not respond to TheWrap’s attempts to clarify the timeline between McHenry’s complaints and Tyrus’ removal from “Un-PC.”
A Fox News rep did not directly address the question of whether Tyrus was suspended during the investigation but reiterated a previous statement issued after the initial disclosure of the accusation in June: “As we have previously said, this matter was immediately and thoroughly investigated by an outside law firm that was charged with providing us with independent factual findings and recommendations for action based on all of the evidence. We have consistently done this in other employee matters of this nature. All protocols were followed and the recommendations we received were appropriate and promptly implemented. We respect the confidentiality of our employees and their involvement in any HR process and therefore will not comment on the results of the investigation.”
Tyrus was not suspended, an individual with knowledge of the network told TheWrap, adding that all disciplinary measures are determined on a case-by-case basis with the recommendation of independent investigators.