FS1 has reportedly placed executive vice president of content Charlie Dixon on leave.
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand and Katie Strang, the company has placed Dixon on administrative leave after he was named as a defendant in two separate lawsuits filed by former Fox Sports employees in recent months.
A former Los Angeles-based FS1 hairstylist, Noushin Faraji, alleged that Dixon groped her in January 2017. Faraji’s lengthy lawsuit also alleged that Dixon was romantically involved with FS1 talent, gave them preferential treatment, and used company funds to pay for his wife’s silence on the affairs.
Last week, former FS1 host Julie Stewart-Binks filed a lawsuit claiming Dixon forcibly kissed her in his hotel room a year earlier, in January 2016.
Fox provided a statement to The Athletic following Stewart-Binks’ lawsuit, saying, “These allegations are from over eight years ago. At the time, we promptly hired a third-party firm to investigate and addressed the matter based on their findings.”
According to The Athletic, Dixon did not respond to a request for comment. Fox did not confirm that it placed him on leave.
As Fox plays host as the broadcaster for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans this week, the company makes its first official move to address the shocking rumors that have surrounded FS1 since the news of Faraji’s lawsuit broke via Front Office Sports in early January. While the personal and professional behavior of talent, including Speak‘s Joy Taylor and The Facility‘s Emmanuel Acho, was implicated in Faraji’s lawsuit, both have remained on air. Neither has addressed the lawsuit publicly.
Both Speak and The Facility will air live from Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Thursday and Friday as part of Fox’s Super Bowl coverage.