Former Fox Sports host Skip Bayless and current Fox Sports personality Joy Taylor each responded to a lawsuit filed in early January by hairstylist Noushin Faraji, denying the allegations against them and asking the court for relief.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Fox Sports asked for the case to be dismissed “in its entirety.”
Faraji filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County against Fox Sports, Bayless, Taylor and executive vice president Charlie Dixon. In it, she accused Taylor of creating a hostile work environment through discrimination on the basis of race/national origin and disability, and said Bayless, the former host of “Undisputed,” propositioned her for sex multiple times, including offering her $1.5 million. She also accused him of verbal harassment and inappropriate physical contact during haircuts. Faraji accused Dixon of sexual battery and said Taylor told her to “get over it” when Faraji told her about Dixon allegedly groping her.
A response filed by Bayless’ attorney on Tuesday said Faraji “consented, by words or conduct” to the conduct Faraji alleged. It also argued that Faraji was not entitled to recover damages “to the extent that any purported emotional distress or pain and suffering damages allegedly suffered by Plaintiff was caused by any pre-existing psychological or medical condition(s).”
Bayless’ attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
In Taylor’s response, her attorney says Faraji “was not a qualified person with a disability as defined by relevant law, nor regarded as a person with a disability.” In the January lawsuit, Faraji accused Taylor of mocking her English and complaining about Faraji’s humming, which the plaintiff said was an involuntary subconscious coping mechanism for her diagnosed PTSD.
A spokeswoman on behalf of Taylor told The Athletic that Faraji including Taylor in the complaint was an attempt to leverage media attention and public perception to extract financial gain.
“The claims set forth against Ms. Taylor are devoid of merit and appear to have been strategically framed to create unwarranted publicity rather than to seek legitimate redress,” the spokeswoman said.
“Ms. Taylor denies each and every allegation against her as set forth in Plaintiff’s Complaint to the extent they allege any wrongdoing, liability, or entitlement to relief.”
Faraji’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
Attorneys for Fox Sports also denied the allegations in their response. They wrote that Fox Sports “exercised reasonable care to prevent and to correct any unlawful harassing and/or retaliatory workplace conduct allegedly experienced by Plaintiff, including by implementing clear procedures to report any instances of harassing or retaliatory conduct.”
“Plaintiff unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventative or corrective opportunities provided by Defendants or to avoid harm otherwise, and thus Plaintiff’s claims are barred,” they continued.
On Feb. 3, sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic’s Katie Strang and Andrew Marchand that Dixon has been placed on administrative leave. In a separate complaint from Faraji’s, former Fox Sports anchor and reporter Julie Stewart-Binks alleged Dixon asked her to come to his hotel room following a work meeting and pushed her against a wall, pinned her arms and forcibly kissed her in January 2016.
(Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images)
