According to Variety, Abby Grossberg, a former senior booking producer for Maria Bartiromo and head of booking for Tucker Carlson, was fired from Fox News on Friday after the network learned that she had disclosed privileged corporate information.
In court filings earlier in the week, Grossberg had alleged that Fox executives had pressured her to provide misleading testimony in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network by Dominion Voting Systems.
Fox News responded that their attorneys had advised Grossberg not to disclose privileged information publicly and that she had ignored their instructions. Fox News vowed to defend itself against Grossberg’s “unmeritorious legal claims,” which they said were false allegations against the network and its employees.
Grossberg’s allegations were made just as Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., were set to appear in a Delaware court to determine whether the Dominion case would proceed to trial. The lawsuit alleges that Fox News aired false claims about Dominion’s actions and influence on the 2020 election, leading to the company’s reputational damage and financial losses.
The case has been highly contentious, with depositions revealing internal emails and texts from Fox executives and anchors that have damaged the network’s credibility.
Fox News denied Grossberg’s allegations of a rough culture within the network, with women poorly treated and Carlson staffers making crude remarks about women and Jews. Grossberg’s attorney, Parisis G. Filippatos, did not comment. Fox News had placed Grossberg on administrative leave following the disclosure of her filings. Fox filed a separate suit against Grossberg to prevent her from filing claims offering information on her talks with the network’s corporate attorneys.
“Like most organizations, FOX News Media’s attorneys engage in privileged communications with our employees as necessary to provide legal advice,” FOX said in a statement to BNM. “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.”
Both sides in the Dominion case are waiting to hear from Judge Eric Davis about whether the case will go to trial or if the sides will decide its outcome on their own. The judge may also choose what information can be used in the case and which executives must testify.
Fox has accused Dominion of “cherry-picking” remarks from its top hosts and executives to create drama around the case, while Dominion said in a statement that it looks forward to the court’s ruling. If the case goes to trial, it will likely be one of the most talked about spectacles in the media industry in 2023.
