Fox News Anchor Sean Hannity Denies Sexual Harassment Allegations
The scandal surrounding Fox News Channel's (FNC) king of cable news, Bill O'Reilly, who was recently fired over sexual harassment allegations, has not yet died down, and yet another news anchor from the network finds himself at the center of controversy. Sean Hannity is currently being accused of harassing a former guest.
The accuser is a lawyer named Debbie Schlussel who once guested in "The Sean Hannity Show." Schlussel, during an interview with Talk 1170 Radio's "The Pat Campbell Show, was asked by Campbell if O'Reilly has ever made sexual advances toward her. Her response, "Only by Sean Hannity, not Bill O'Reilly," took many by surprise.
Schlussel revealed that "[Hannity] tried to get me to go back to the hotel with him after the show" and when she declined his invitation, Hannity was furious and banned her from appearing on his show ever again.
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In the same interview, she also mentioned Hannity's executive producer, Bill Shine, saying both Hannity and Shine mistreated her. She recounted, "Both he and Bill Shine, his executive producer, treated me horribly and basically head faked me, and told me Oh, we're going to double team, which was a weird phrase to use, this Palestinian guy that I was up against on the show, and then every time I tried to open my mouth and say something they said, obey your host. You can't say anything, or we're going to shut off your microphone ..."
After Schlussel's disclosure on the radio show, she took to Twitter to continue her allegations against the TV host. In her post, she said that the conservative political commentator was angered when she changed her hair color from blonde and even argued about the size of her pants.
Hannity, meanwhile, denies the issue. According to NBCNews.com, the Fox News anchor referred to Schlussel's accusations as purely fallacious and done with the malicious intent of stating his reputation.
Hannity explained that this is not the first time that the complainant accused him falsely. He said Schlussel already made a lot of proven false accusations against him in the past 10 years. He went on to say that he is not the only one Schlussel has attacked, but she does this to people whom she "disagrees with."
The announcer said he believes that Schlussel is doing this as part of a bigger agenda that is meant to "silence people with conservative views." He added that he will likely file a lawsuit against her.
