Former ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ Producer Suing Carlson Never Met Him in Person: Report

Fox News host Tucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center on Oct. 21, 2018. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for Politicon)

Lawyers for a former Fox News producer who is suing the network and former boss Tucker Carlson said that she never met Carlson in person while she worked on his show, according to a report.

Grossberg, who was the head of booking for Carlson for several months, has filed a lawsuit that alleged Carlson fostered a hostile work environment among his staff. Grossberg further claimed that she was subjected to vulgar comments while she worked in Fox News’ office in New York.

In a statement to The Spectator, lawyers for Abby Grossberg characterized their client’s not meeting with Carlson in person as routine. They said it’s because he would film his program from his studios in Florida and Maine, where he owns homes.

“Like many on the [‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’] staff, Abby never met Tucker Carlson in person because he taped the show from his personal studios in Maine and Florida, and he did not visit Fox’s NY HQ during her time there,” Kimberly A. Catala, a Grossberg attorney, told the outlet.

A spokesperson for the law firm told The Epoch Times that the entirety of Catala’s comment to The Spectator was accurate. Without elaborating further, the spokesperson suggested that the The Spectator “cherry-picked half-sentences” when it obtained a comment from Catala about Grossberg.

The lawsuit (pdf), filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York on March 20, said that the “toxic work dynamic” fostered by Carlson “had impacted her health severely, such that she could barely eat and lost nearly 10 pounds in less than two weeks.”

“This case is as troubling as it is familiar; it is yet another in the long line of cases chronicling the misogynistic environment that permeates Fox News and fosters a toxic workplace where truth remains a fugitive while female workers are verbally violated on almost a daily basis by a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy,” the lawsuit stated.

Carlson hasn’t issued a public response to her lawsuit, but Fox News categorically denied her allegations to media outlets after it was filed. A Fox News spokesperson previously told news outlets that the company “will continue to vigorously defend Fox against Ms. Grossberg’s unmeritorious legal claims, which are riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”

After Fox News announced Carlson’s departure on April 24, Grossberg made an MSNBC appearance in which she criticized both Carlson and Fox News.

“Tucker and his executive producer Justin Wells, who was also fired, really were responsible for breaking me and making my life a living hell,” Grossberg told MSNBC. It isn’t clear if either Carlson or Wells were fired, as details about why Carlson left the company haven’t been provided.

At the same time, Grossberg wrote on Twitter that Carlson’s exit is a “step towards accountability for the election lies and baseless conspiracy theories spread by the network,” although she worked there for several months.

Lawyers for Grossberg told The Spectator that she was in contact with Carlson via text and email on a regular basis. The two also spoke over the phone, her lawyers said.

“Since Tucker did not come to the Fox office, he relied on Justin Wells, his executive producer, and others like Alexander McCaskill, senior producer, who were present in the office every day to be his eyes, ears and mouthpiece, and to convey his ‘tone,’ as they threateningly reminded Ms. Grossberg,” Catala added to the paper.

Carlson Speaks

After several days of silence, Carlson issued a statement via Twitter on April 26 at 8 p.m. Eastern time—the same time his former show had aired. “Where can you still find Americans saying true things? There aren’t many places left. But there are some. And that’s enough,” he said in a two-minute-long video.

“As long as you can hear the words, there is hope.”

Without addressing his departure or Fox News, Carlson remarked, “Both political parties and their donors have reached consensus on what benefits them, and they actively collude to shut down any conversation about it.”

“The other thing you notice when you take a little time off is how unbelievably stupid most of the debates you see on television are,” he added. “They’re completely irrelevant. They mean nothing. In five years, we won’t even remember that we had them. Trust me, as someone who has participated.”

His “Tucker Carlson Tonight” hour-long show aired Monday through Friday starting at 8 p.m., and it was often the highest-rated cable news show in recent years. Notably, it drew significant viewership from the coveted age 25 to 54 demographic.

In the interim, a rotation of hosts will fill Carlson’s seat, according to Fox’s April 24 announcement. Thus far, “Fox & Friends” cohost Brian Kilmeade has hosted the renamed “Fox News Tonight.”