A former Tucker Carlson producer is now accusing Fox News of retaliation after the network fired her on Friday following her lawsuit alleging a hostile work environment.
Abby Grossberg, once a senior booking producer for Fox host Maria Bariromo before becoming Carlson’s head of booking, filed amended complaints on Monday alleging the network’s attorneys coerced her into giving inaccurate testimony in her deposition to Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion is currently suing Fox for defamation, seeking $1.6 billion over its coverage of the 2020 election.
In her latest filings in New York and Delaware courts, Grossberg details additional claims of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation against her and other female employees at Fox News. Additionally, she asks to correct her Sept. 14 deposition, claiming she was unable to see a transcript of her Dominion testimony until after it was part of the court record despite numerous requests on her part.
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Claiming that male colleagues were able to see their transcripts and make corrections, Grossberg asserts that she was only able to review and correct her own testimony only after retaining her own legal team. She also accuses Fox News lawyers of pressuring her to downplay the role that TV ratings had in the network’s decision-making at the time it was pushing election-fraud lies, while also providing cover for male executives.
“Based on what I understood and took away from the deposition preparation sessions I had with Fox’s legal team which were coercive and intimidating,” Grossberg stated in her amended Delaware complaint. “I felt that I had to do everything possible to avoid becoming the ‘star witness’ for Dominion or else I would be seriously jeopardizing my career at Fox News and would be subjected to worse terms and conditions of employment than male employees as I understood it.”
Grossberg dove deeper into her claims that Fox’s legal team coached her before and during the deposition, claiming they would repeatedly say “who really can/does recall anything” and therefore “fraudulently inducing her to deny facts she knew to exist.” Furthermore, she said she was influenced to not reveal how short staffing on Bartiromo’s show may have led to the program disregarding emailed warnings about pushing falsehoods regarding Dominion’s voting systems. Instead, Grossberg alleges she was pushed to suggest that “nothing fell through the cracks” at Fox.
“I did not understand at the time, as I had not been made aware by Fox, that the statement ‘I don’t recall’ is potentially perjurious,” she wrote in her amended Delaware filing on Monday. “I also understood and took away from my deposition preparation sessions with Fox’s legal team that I needed to keep my answers artificially general and if it got to any questions about details, try to dodge the question by saying ‘I don’t recall.’”
In her amended New York complaint, Grossberg said the Fox attorneys pressured her to claim that a taped Rudy Giuliani segment in Nov. 2020—which featured the ex-Trump lawyers peddling bogus election fraud claims—was “live to tape” and couldn’t have been edited prior to airing. According to text messages with then-senior vice president of weekend news David Clark, however, Grossberg said the interview was pre-taped and Clark decided to air it anyway.
Fox News placed Grossberg on forced administrative leave on the same day her lawsuits were filed last Monday. The network also attempted to preemptively block her complaints, claiming attorney-client privilege. After pulling back the initial attempt to silence part of Grossberg’s lawsuit, the network lost its effort to redact portions of her filings.
On Friday, Fox News fired Grossberg, citing her disclosure of privileged company information.
“Like most organizations, Fox News Media’s attorneys engage in privileged communications with our employees as necessary to provide legal advice,” a Fox News spokesperson said about the termination. “Last week, our attorneys advised Ms. Grossberg that, while she was free to file whatever legal claims she wished, she was in possession of our privileged information and was not authorized to disclose it publicly. We were clear that if she violated our instructions, Fox would take appropriate action including termination. Ms. Grossberg ignored these communications and chose to file her complaint without taking any steps to protect those portions containing Fox’s privileged information. We will continue to vigorously defend Fox against Ms. Grossberg’s unmeritorious legal claims, which are riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”
Grossberg’s lawyers, meanwhile, said the firing was further evidence of Fox News’ vengeance towards their client.
“The frivolous litigation tactics by Fox News punctuate its blatant disregard for the law, which is further underscored by the Company’s recent retaliatory firing of Ms. Grossberg,” lead counsel Parisis G. Filippatos said in a statement.
“Fox News is accused of failing to protect Ms. Grossberg’s rights to enjoy a workplace free of unlawful conduct, including bullying or coercion when providing sworn testimony. We stand ready to ensure that the law steps in where Fox has failed,” Filippatos’s partner Tanvir H. Rahman added.
