Former Tucker Carlson Producer Accused of Sexual Assault
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Tucker Carlson’s former top producer at Fox News is being accused of sexually assaulting a former employee when they both worked at the network 15 years ago.
In the lawsuit filed in New York State Court, Andrew Delancey alleged that after Justin Wells had promised to help advance his career, Wells assaulted him in 2008, according to The Washington Post. Wells, who was a producer for Greta Van Susteren at the time, later became the senior executive producer of Tucker Carlson Tonight, and was fired alongside Carlson amid the network’s $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Wells now works on the former Fox host’s X (formerly Twitter) show.
“As a general matter, if you believe you’ve been the victim of a sex crime, you have a moral obligation to alert police, so it doesn’t happen to someone else,” Carlson said in statement sent to Rolling Stone. “If you wait 15 years to cash in with a civil suit, no one should take you seriously. I certainly don’t.”
In response, Delancey’s lawyers, Alfredo Pelicci and Parisis Filippatos, told the Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Carlson’s statements are a classic example of the tactics that people with power and influence use to insulate themselves from accountability and silence victims. It’s also no surprise that Mr. Carlson is jumping to the defense of his right-hand man.”
The complaint alleges that shortly after Delancey started at Fox, he met with Wells outside the senior staffer’s apartment and that Wells insisted they have a drink in his apartment before going to a bar. Delancey claims Wells forced him into his bed and grabbed his genitals, despite Delancey yelling out “no,” and that Wells “forced his tongue into Mr. Delancey’s mouth,” the suit states. Delancey says Wells groped him again in a stairwell against his consent, per the suit.
Delancey claimed that his then-supervisor warned him not to go to human resources, the suit said.
“Delancey will no longer be intimidated by Mr. Wells or Fox,” Delancey’s lawyer, Alfredo J. Pelicci, told the Post. “Our firm is committed to holding Justin Wells and Fox accountable for their unlawful and abhorrent actions.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney for Wells, called the suit “meritless,” adding, “This is yet another attempt by a law firm with a history of suing Fox and its former employees to cash in on frivolous allegations.”
The suit also lists Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, as defendants, in addition to Wells. Fox News Media did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
The full complaint was filed Monday, while a summons of the suit was initially filed on Nov. 22 under the state’s Adult Survivors Act, which opened a yearlong window that allowed sexual assault victims to file civil lawsuits even if the statutes of limitations had expired.
This article was updated on Dec. 5 at 12:25 a.m. E.T. to include statements from Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney for Wells.
More from Rolling Stone
Best of Rolling Stone
