Longtime sports talk show host Skip Bayless made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward a hairstylist working for Fox Sports, including offering the woman $1.5 million to have sex with him, a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles alleges.
The 42-page lawsuit also alleges that “for over a decade at Fox, (the hairstylist) was forced to endure a misogynistic, racist, and ableist workplace where executives and talent were allowed to physically and verbally abuse workers with impunity.”
Attorneys for Noushin Faraji are seeking unspecified damages from Bayless, Fox Sports and its parent company, Fox Corp. Faraji alleges that when she and others reported the misconduct, “Fox retaliated against them while the perpetrators and those who protected them were inexplicitly promoted. This case thus represents yet another in a long line of cases chronicling the toxic culture at Fox, marked by bad faith promises and repeated failures to address a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy.”
Bayless, 73, worked for Fox Sports from 2016 until 2024, when his show “Undisputed” was canceled after a dip in its ratings coincided with the departure of his co-host, former NFL star Shannon Sharpe. Bayless came to Fox from ESPN, where he first appeared on “Cold Pizza” in 2004 and eventually hosted “First Take” alongside Stephen A. Smith.
Faraji worked at the Fox studios in L.A. from 2012 until she was fired in 2024 for what the lawsuit says were “fabricated” reasons. In addition to Bayless, the lawsuit names as defendants Fox Sports Executive Vice President Charlie Dixon and Fox host Joy Taylor.
The lawsuit alleges that Dixon made an unwanted pass at Faraji during a birthday party for Taylor at a Hollywood restaurant in 2017. Faraji told Taylor about the episode, but Taylor responded by saying, “get over it,” pointing out that “she herself only had her job because of Mr. Dixon and that Ms. Faraji only had her job because Ms. Taylor requested her” and “she warned that Mr. Dixon could take both away,” according to the lawsuit, which also details at length an alleged ongoing affair between Dixon and Taylor.
At one point, Bayless requested that Faraji give him a haircut once a week in the makeup room. “Soon after the weekly haircuts started, Mr. Bayless began finding excuses to touch Ms. Faraji,” the lawsuit states. “He would give her lingering hugs after each haircut, putting his body against her own, pressing against her breasts. He then began to kiss her on her cheeks. Ms. Faraji was uncomfortable by the physical contact and would make excuses to leave right after the haircuts.”
In July 2021, the lawsuit states, Faraji explained to Bayless that she was undergoing biopsies to determine whether she had cancer. “Mr. Bayless then grabbed her hands, began kissing them, and offered her $1.5 million to have sex,” according to the lawsuit. “Approximately one week later, Mr. Bayless made another advance at Ms. Faraji. Ms. Faraji responded: ‘Skip, stop, you have a wife.’”
Bayless, who currently hosts his own podcast, “The Skip Bayless Show” on YouTube, married media relations expert Ernestine Sclafani in 2016. Sclafani co-wrote a book with Bayless, published in 2019: “Balls: How to Keep Your Relationship Alive When You Live With a Sports-Obsessed Guy.”
The lawsuit also brings forth class action allegations on behalf of “all nonexempt hourly individuals who worked for Fox in California during the period commencing four years prior to the filing of this Complaint.” Allegations include nonpayment for all hours worked, nonpayment of overtime, not being reimbursed for business expenses and not being paid severance.
A Fox spokesperson said of the lawsuit, “We take these allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time given this pending litigation.” An email to Bayless’ representative did not get a response Monday.
Taylor hosted Monday’s “Speak” show on FS1, but she and her colleagues — Keyshawn Johnson, Paul Pierce and Michael Irvin — didn’t discuss the lawsuit during the two-hour episode.
Sharpe did respond, answering a fan question during his and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson’s “Nightcap” podcast about “the elephant in the room.”
“That ain’t got nothing to do with me,” Sharpe said. “It doesn’t. What do y’all want me to say? That ain’t got nothing to do with me. So, there’s nothing to address. I don’t know why everybody keep — if you notice, everybody’s posting it, they got me.
“In those 42 pages, it doesn’t mention that Shannon Sharpe did anything. But y’all want to get clicks, so y’all mention me.”
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