Reactions to the allegations in a lawsuit that longtime Fox Sports talk show host Skip Bayless sexually harassed his hairstylist and that FS1 host Joy Taylor had romantic relationships with two prominent co-workers are littering social media.
It was no surprise that three of the most prominent voices in sports talk television — all of whom previously worked at Fox Sports — cleared their throats and let it fly.
For Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player who previously worked at FS1, the lawsuit confirmed what he already suspected.
Former Fox Sports host Jason Whitlock congratulated himself for being wary of women in the network’s makeup room, then went over the top with sexist comments about Taylor.
And Stephen A. Smith, who pioneered debate sports TV with Bayless on ESPN’s “First Take” from 2012-16, essentially became a character witness for Bayless while underscoring that the lawsuit should be taken seriously.
Fox Sports hairstylist Noushin Faraji filed the 42-page lawsuit — first reported by Front Office Sports — in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, alleging that Bayless propositioned her for years and offered to pay her $1.5 million for sex. She also described a toxic work environment at Fox Sports in L.A., alleging that Taylor engaged in romantic relationships with executive vice president Charlie Dixon and Emmanuel Acho, an ex-NFL player who co-hosted “Speak for Yourself” on FS1 with Taylor and LeSean McCoy from 2022-23.
Acho apparently deleted a 2022 social media video in which he promoted the launch of the show by praising Taylor. In the video he said, “Do you all realize how hard it is to get into the position she is in? So often there is misogyny and sexism running rampant in sports and we don’t even care what women have to say in sports.
“But Joy is not only in the position on TV as a Black woman, but as an opinionist, so not just asking men what they think but adding her own unique and distinct insight. It’s hard to do, but Joy, you have done it. … Joy, congratulations and look forward to working with you.”
Wiley, who co-hosted “Speak for Yourself” from 2018-22 first with Whitlock then with Acho, addressed the lawsuit on his podcast, saying, “I never heard that Charlie Dixon and Joy Taylor were sleeping together. But, upon hearing that, I’m not gonna lie to y’all. It makes a lot of things make sense. It unlocks a lot for me.
“Sleeping with Emmanuel Acho? I’ve heard that before. Multiple times, as recent as a week or two ago. Part of the reason it was suggested that they do a show together is because of these allegations in the lawsuit that they were sleeping together, conspiring to get that to go. Conspiring with Charlie, conspiring with Emmanuel Acho, ‘Let’s make this work.’”
Wiley apparently was referring to a recent flurry of movement on Fox Sports talk shows. He had been replaced by Taylor and McCoy in the rebranded “Speak” in 2022. But last August, Acho and McCoy moved to “Undisputed” to replace Bayless, who was let go because of declining ratings. Keyshawn Johnson and Paul Pierce, who were working with Bayless on “Undisputed,” moved to the rebranded “Speak” with Taylor.
“Unlocking the piece of Charlie,” Wiley said. “If true, I’m looking at my history and I’m looking at the history of a lot of other talents on that network a lot differently. A lot differently in a really bad way. … Imagine if Charlie is allegedly sleeping with Joy Taylor and Emmanuel Acho and there’s somebody who’s not sleeping with Joy Taylor.”
Whitlock, on his podcast “Fearless,” reflected on his time and interactions with Faraji while at Fox Sports while also making disparaging comments about Taylor.
“I was a fan of Noushin, thought she was a good person,” Whitlock said. “Did I think that Noushin and all the women in hair and makeup at Fox Sports needed to be handled carefully? Yes, yes I did. Anybody that knew me and knew my reputation at Fox Sports, it was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to come into this makeup room, I’m going to say very little. Because I’m not going to give any of you leverage over me.’”
When Whitlock turned his attention to Taylor, however, he attempted to make her alleged romantic relationships with co-workers a symbol of what he perceives as societal ills. Then he made questionable personal comments about her physical appearance that The Times won’t repeat.
“Joy Taylor is a symbol of this whole feminist movement, this whole Black queens movement, this whole DEI movement,” he said. “This whole sharing everything with women, and, ‘Hey there’s gotta be a woman host on all of these shows.’ Well, there’s consequences to that, and this whole system has been set up to create the kind of chaos and division and inefficiency and corruption that we’re seeing spelled out in this lawsuit, [and] all across American media.”
“I basically, for the most part, just kept my distance from Joy Taylor. Not because I didn’t like her, just because I knew myself. I know what I’m capable of. … Like, ‘Jay, keep your distance, that’s going to get you into trouble.’”
Smith, by comparison, took the high road on his podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” saying that while he is “heartbroken” for his former colleague Bayless, he has zero knowledge about the veracity of Faraji’s allegations.
“I haven’t been in that [Fox Sports] building in more than 20 years, I’m not here to castigate Ms. Faraji, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I’ve known Skip for just as long and I can’t imagine it. The Skip Bayless I know has a hard time giving away $15. He’s one of the cheapest people I know. … Imagining him in this position is shocking to say the least, and all I could tell you is that it’s not the Skip Bayless I know.
“But that doesn’t mean that I have any inside knowledge of this — I don’t. And I’m not going to get involved. It’s incredibly dicey for people who don’t know to act like they know. ”
Smith did add that people he’s spoken to “that have some knowledge” about Faraji say her allegations shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“This person who is a hairstylist, the people that I’ve spoken to in the last 24 hours that have some knowledge about her say that she’s meticulous with her details and she’s going to chronicle things and that’s how she operates,” he said.
