On Sunday, news broke that Fox Sports, along with several high-profile on-air personalities and one executive, were named as defendants in a major workplace misconduct lawsuit filed in California. Fox Sports personality Joy Taylor was one of those named in the lawsuit, and she now faces a rather explosive allegation.
The suit was brought forward by Fox Sports hairstylist Noushin Faraji, who had worked for the company for over a decade. In the suit, she claims that Joy Taylor secured her position on the FS1 show Undisputed by sleeping with Fox executive Charlie Dixon, who was responsible for content decisions.
“In approximately May 2016, Ms. Taylor asked Ms. Faraji to meet for a drink in Santa Monica. When Ms. Faraji arrived, she found Ms. Taylor with an older man, Fox Sports Executive Vice President of Content, Mr. Dixon. As Executive Vice President, Mr. Dixon is responsible for overseeing all content and production on FS1. Ms. Faraji, however, did not know Mr. Dixon,” the lawsuit reads, according to Awful Announcing.
“From their body language, Ms. Faraji suspected that the pair were sleeping with each other, and although this concerned Ms. Faraji as she knew Ms. Taylor was recently married, Ms. Faraji kept her opinions to herself.
“Mr. Bayless later disclosed to Ms. Faraji that he did not want Ms. Taylor on the show, but Mr. Dixon was adamant that Ms. Taylor should star. At first, Mr. Dixon arranged a dinner between Mr. Bayless and Ms. Taylor where she arrived in provocative clothing and acted in a provocative manner. When that did not change Mr. Bayless’s opinion of Ms. Taylor, Mr. Dixon asked him to approve of her as a favor to him. Reluctantly, Mr. Bayless agreed to do so as a favor to his friend.
“Around August 2016, Ms. Faraji attended a dinner with Ms. Taylor and her husband and Mr. Dixon and his wife. During the dinner, Ms. Taylor’s husband became suspicious that Ms. Taylor and Mr. Dixon were having a sexual relationship. Soon after the dinner, Ms. Taylor’s husband found evidence of the inappropriate relationship and divorced Ms. Taylor.”
The lawsuit states that the incident ultimately led to the breakdown of her relationship with her then-fiancé – though Dixon paid for his silence by covering their wedding deposits after he broke off the engagement.
“…after learning of Ms. Taylor and Mr. Dixon’s sexual relationship, Ms. Taylor’s then-fiancé broke off the engagement and threatened to go public with all that he knew. On information and belief, Mr. Dixon paid for the wedding deposits in an informal exchange for her fiancé’s silence.”
The lawsuit goes on to highlight another incident in which Taylor allegedly used her sexuality to secure a spot on a Fox Sports program. This time, however, it was with former NFL player and current FS1 analyst Emmanuel Acho, who was a host on the show Speak for Yourself.
“In approximately February 2020, Ms. Taylor asked Ms. Faraji to meet her for lunch in Beverly Hills. When Ms. Faraji arrived, she found Ms. Taylor with a man, Emmanuel Acho. Ms. Faraji did not know Mr. Acho but could tell that the two were romantically involved,” the lawsuit reads.
“A few months after meeting Mr. Acho at the lunch, Ms. Faraji noticed him in the hallway while at work. Ms. Faraji later asked Ms. Taylor if Mr. Acho also worked at Fox. Ms. Taylor confirmed and explained that she wanted Mr. Acho to eventually recommend her on the show Speak for Yourself. Ms. Faraji became alarmed and warned Ms. Taylor that she should probably not sleep with Mr. Dixon and Mr. Acho at the same time, as Mr. Dixon is a very powerful man that may become very angry. Ms. Taylor told her not to worry about it. She explained that she was also now powerful, and once Mr. Dixon was no longer useful to her, she would follow through on her plan to tell the company that he forced himself on her. She would not allow herself to be forced out by Mr. Dixon like other women talent.”
Obviously, these are startling allegations against Taylor, and she has not yet addressed them publicly.
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