Suspended Fox News host Eric Bolling on Wednesday announced a lawsuit against the reporter who broke the story of allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Bolling filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Yashar Ali, the HuffPost contributing writer who wrote the original article, the Associated Press reports. The suit accuses Ali of "highly reckless publication of actionable false and misleading statements about the plaintiff's conduct and character," leading to damage to Bolling's reputation.
Ali promised to "stand by [his] reporting" and "protect [his] sources" in a tweet responding to the lawsuit Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/yashar/status/895390310448205826
Bolling, meanwhile, tweeted that he will "continue to fight against these false smear attacks!"
https://twitter.com/ericbolling/status/895403716450418688
Bolling was suspended from Fox last Sunday as part of the cable channel's ongoing saga of sexual harassment-related firings and suspensions. Ali's article claimed that Bolling sent unsolicited, lewd photos of himself to several female coworkers.
Along with Bolling, Fox Business anchor Charles Payne was also suspended over allegations of sexual harassment, allegations also reported by Ali. In sexual-harassment-related departures, Fox Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes left in July 2016, while Bill O'Reilly left in April after 21 years at the network.