Speaker 1: We all know where we gotta get started on this
Speaker 1: particular day, and that's getting started with the lawsuit.
Speaker 2: The recent lawsuit.
Speaker 1: Filed against Fox Fox Sports and several current and former
Speaker 1: personnel there, including my former colleague, the one and.
Speaker 2: Only Skip Bayless.
Speaker 1: The forty two page document, filed by a woman named
Speaker 1: Nushen Faraji, a former hairstylist for the company, cite several
Speaker 1: instances of workplace misconduct. The suit named several defendants, including
Speaker 1: Fox Sports executive vice president Charlie Dixon and host Joye Taylor.
Speaker 1: Faraji alleges Dixon grabbed her behind at a birthday party,
Speaker 1: and when she relayed the encounter with Joey Taylor, the
Speaker 1: Fox host allegedly told her.
Speaker 2: To quote get over it.
Speaker 1: And that is where I feel compelled to begin today.
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of reaction to this story all
Speaker 1: over social media. Has it been about Charlie Dixon, Not
Speaker 1: that much. Has it even been about Skip Bayless, not
Speaker 1: that much at all. Has it about Fox Sports overall?
Speaker 1: Really not that much at all. It's all significantly paled
Speaker 1: in comparison to the level of vitriol, venom, insults and
Speaker 1: beyond aimed at one missus Joy Taylor. And that's why
Speaker 1: I want to bring on my next guest. I shouldn't
Speaker 1: call her a guest. She's a journalist. She's a former
Speaker 1: news anchor in Atlanta. She's a personally personal good friend
Speaker 1: of mine, and she's a damn good friend of the
Speaker 1: show over the last few days. And I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the one and only Tory Cooper. She's back here with
Speaker 1: yours truly right now. Toyo, how are you?
Speaker 2: How's everything going?
Speaker 3: I'm doing well.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 1: I had to bring you back because I wanted to
Speaker 1: get your thoughts on what I just brought up about
Speaker 1: Joy Taylor. And as you've watched all of this unfold,
Speaker 1: I know you, like myself, we've read the forty two
Speaker 1: page you know allegations you know righte with allegations against
Speaker 1: Joy tailor against Charlie Dixon, against Skip Bayless, specifically pertaining
Speaker 1: the Joy Taylor. I want to know what your thoughts
Speaker 1: are about all the heat that she's been taking over
Speaker 1: the last few days.
Speaker 3: Why is such a focus on Joy Taylor. First of all,
Speaker 3: she's not being accused of sexual battery, she's not being
Speaker 3: accused sexual harassment. She's being accused of engaging in sexual
Speaker 3: behavior to earn her spot that she has on Fox Sports. Now,
Speaker 3: the problem I have with this, Steven, is this continues
Speaker 3: to be the issue in this industry. Is when a
Speaker 3: man gets there in any industry, really, when a man
Speaker 3: gets there, he earned it. When a woman gets there,
Speaker 3: she slept your way to the top seven half. And
Speaker 3: so that's issue number one. Issue number two is that
Speaker 3: we're just going to completely negate her experience and the
Speaker 3: fact that she is more than qualified to be in
Speaker 3: this role. And if you just read this lawsuit at
Speaker 3: face value, and this is my problem with these lawsuits
Speaker 3: is people just take it as fact. These are alligats
Speaker 3: at the end of the day. And when you look
Speaker 3: at this lawsuit and you comb through it at face value,
Speaker 3: they paint her as a bartender who had little experience,
Speaker 3: who was a radio experience in radio and was not
Speaker 3: qualified for Fox Sports and she was working as a
Speaker 3: fillin anchor and a bartender at the same time. I've
Speaker 3: worked two jobs to get into this industry. I worked
Speaker 3: behind the scenes first. So we don't earn these spots lightly.
Speaker 3: And that's where I get really frustrated with people on
Speaker 3: social media who are trying to come for this woman's
Speaker 3: experience and credibility to be considered for this role. So
Speaker 3: let's just go back into the history really quick, into
Speaker 3: her experience since we want to talk about it. She
Speaker 3: worked behind the scenes as an executive producer, that's someone
Speaker 3: who writes the shows for the people you see with
Speaker 3: the mic one. Then she worked her way into a
Speaker 3: slot to be a co host on that show on
Speaker 3: that radio show in Miami. Then on top of that,
Speaker 3: she took the show to number one. She took the
Speaker 3: show to number one, and then after that, then she
Speaker 3: makes her way to California. Is essentially doing what it
Speaker 3: appears to be free and it's filling in and working
Speaker 3: to get that spot, and eventually she gets called on
Speaker 3: many people right now, steven A would say, I'm not
Speaker 3: even qualified to sit next to you. But it's not
Speaker 3: always about experience. If it was about experience in this industry,
Speaker 3: then so many people wouldn't even have the spots they have.
Speaker 3: It's about a lot of other intangibles. But for this
Speaker 3: specific issue, this woman was more than qualified. She's been
Speaker 3: a credible a Fox Sports commentator and she's doing her job.
Speaker 3: So that's the big issue. Another issue on social media
Speaker 3: I'm saying that's very upsetting is that people are saying,
Speaker 3: you know, this is why women shouldn't be in sports.
Speaker 3: This is why we don't want women involved in this,
Speaker 3: because we're going to be faced with these allegations and
Speaker 3: this is give us our world back. This is not
Speaker 3: your world. You're not going to claim the sports environment.
Speaker 3: And this is the problem that I have because at
Speaker 3: the end of the day, this is a form of
Speaker 3: entertainment that anyone can share, not anyone, but people can
Speaker 3: share their take on it, and people can be engaged
Speaker 3: in this topic. And lastly, this is the main issue
Speaker 3: I have with this is another woman who's a minority
Speaker 3: to stay who's also claiming that another woman who's a
Speaker 3: minority did this. So I know that the female sports
Speaker 3: anchors of the world right now are all cringing because
Speaker 3: they're like, wow, oh, you just continue to feed right
Speaker 3: into this, the same narrative that we don't deserve to
Speaker 3: be up here at the desk with these men who love, live, breathe,
Speaker 3: and sleep this topic. So now it's always about us
Speaker 3: sleeping with people to get to the spot we're in.
Speaker 3: And then now another woman is going to feed right
Speaker 3: into that with these allegations, so it doesn't help we're
Speaker 3: up against us women in this industry to have allegations
Speaker 3: like this circulating around. But this also, she could file
Speaker 3: her own lawsuit. She could there nothing has been proven,
Speaker 3: so that's why all leave it.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing people need to understand. That's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons that you might not be hearing anything
Speaker 1: from her, nor skip baitlos to anybody else because they
Speaker 1: can turn around and sue and they got there. I mean,
Speaker 1: think about the allegations that have been thrown out against them,
Speaker 1: think about, you know, the need that they may feel
Speaker 1: to retaliate, and as a result of that, I think
Speaker 1: that is even further requirement for people to be careful.
Speaker 2: But let me tell you why I wanted.
Speaker 1: You on here, Tory, because I have to admit I'm
Speaker 1: pretty pissed off. Now there's a there's a few people's
Speaker 1: names I'm not gonna mention because damn it, they ain't
Speaker 1: worth it, Okay, and I get that, but there's a
Speaker 1: few men out there that are acting like you know,
Speaker 1: this is the perfect excuse to justify why we make
Speaker 1: the argument that women don't belong in the industry, which
Speaker 1: is incredibly an agree an incredibly egregious thing to say. Okay,
Speaker 1: they'll look at any woman sitting in a host chair,
Speaker 1: or any woman that's a reporter out there, or any
Speaker 1: woman that has to walk into the locker room, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, their credibility is being a questioned.
Speaker 1: My thing, What I'm more pulled at by, rather even that,
Speaker 1: is the women all over social media that are allowing
Speaker 1: it to happen. And that's why I wanted you on
Speaker 1: the show today because I said, I'm not gonna speak
Speaker 1: about it just from the male, from the male perspective,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a female in front of me that
Speaker 1: I can bounce the off of to check me in
Speaker 1: case I'm wrong about this, Correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: because I don't spend a lot of time looking all
Speaker 1: over social media, but I'm looking at an abundance of women,
Speaker 1: and I'm saying the allegations.
Speaker 2: I understand what the allegations are.
Speaker 1: The allegations of Joey Taylor slept with Charlie Dixon and
Speaker 1: she oss and she did it while she was married,
Speaker 1: and well, first of all, the marriage part of her
Speaker 1: business is nobody else's the boss situation obviously, is dicey.
Speaker 2: Make no mistake about it.
Speaker 1: You got a girl that was supposed to be her
Speaker 1: best friend that's supposedly diming her out right. Now, that's
Speaker 1: incredibly unfortunate, But one could easily argue it's really not
Speaker 1: about your guilt of innocence. It's about how guilty I
Speaker 1: make you look, forcing you to capitulate to the demands
Speaker 1: that I'm making civilly.
Speaker 2: We can get into that a little bit later.
Speaker 1: But what I find most egregious, most egregious toy is
Speaker 1: the abundance of women out there who are laughing, who
Speaker 1: are pointing the finger at Joey Taylor with a profound
Speaker 1: level of guilt, as if they know. Even when they
Speaker 1: throw in the word allegedly, they do it with smirks
Speaker 1: on their face, sort of dismissive because in this business
Speaker 1: we know how to speak with our body language, not
Speaker 1: just with words. And not only that, they're using it
Speaker 1: as an excuse to question her credibility. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: know what happened. You don't know what happened. We don't
Speaker 1: know what level of truth or falsehood exists with the
Speaker 1: allegations that no Shine Faraji has thrown in the direction
Speaker 1: of the executive at Fox Board, Skip Bayless, Joytaylor, or
Speaker 1: anybody else.
Speaker 2: But let me tell you what I do know.
Speaker 1: I know that I've seen Joy Taylor on TV a
Speaker 1: lot over the years, and I think she's pretty damn good.
Speaker 2: I think she's ready. I think she's very capable. I
Speaker 2: think she's worthy of the position that she has on
Speaker 2: Fox Sports.
Speaker 1: I think her podcast with Taylor Rooks is a damn
Speaker 1: good podcast. I think her credentials in this business have
Speaker 1: been established.
Speaker 2: I did an interview just yesterday. I was being interviewed by.
Speaker 1: God by the name of sins Rosenberg, a longtime conservative
Speaker 1: radio host, and he was telling me how Jason Taylor,
Speaker 1: the former Miami Dolphin, that Hall of Famer, her big brother,
Speaker 1: her brother rather, he had called to see if he
Speaker 1: could help, if sid could help her.
Speaker 2: Get a job in the business, and he ended up
Speaker 2: hiring her.
Speaker 1: And obviously, like you pointed out, she produced when she
Speaker 1: had the opportunity, and that's what created other opportunities for her.
Speaker 1: So I'm looking at it, Toy, and I'm saying, wait
Speaker 1: a minute here, am I watching this correctly? They're an
Speaker 1: abundance of women out there that are using this as
Speaker 1: a license to question her credentials based off of having
Speaker 1: you not have you not watched her over the years
Speaker 1: on television and if you're going to do that, okay,
Speaker 1: why would you? Why would you want to do that?
Speaker 1: Even that That's where I'm at with it, Toy. That's
Speaker 1: my problem, the fact that people are using this as
Speaker 1: an excuse to question her condrenas if she.
Speaker 2: Just got the job yesterday, well, last week or last
Speaker 2: month of something. That would be one thing.
Speaker 1: She's been on TV for years showing her capability and
Speaker 1: now all of that is being ignored because of allegations.
Speaker 2: That's where I'm at with the Toy. We where are you?
Speaker 3: There's the court of public opinion and then there's real court, right,
Speaker 3: and again these are allegations and using it having women
Speaker 3: you know, essentially, I mean to me, it seems like
Speaker 3: it could be coming from a place of jealousy, like ooh,
Speaker 3: finally put a target on her back. Now we can
Speaker 3: say she wasn't qualified because not only is she beautiful,
Speaker 3: but now we can say she wasn't qualified in dinner
Speaker 3: or spot And I'm not shocked by it. People are Okay,
Speaker 3: there's one thing I do want to talk about and
Speaker 3: it is your looks. Your looks play into this. When
Speaker 3: you are beautiful, you are up against a different battle
Speaker 3: at times in this industry. I mean, people are always
Speaker 3: going to try to say that your looks played into this.
Speaker 3: Your looks do hell you in this. We cannot ignore that.
Speaker 1: Pause pause, pause one thing. One thing, your looks or
Speaker 1: how you present yourself? Right, question which one I'm asking?
Speaker 3: No, it's about how you present yourself. But the looks
Speaker 3: do contribute to whether or not you have an on
Speaker 3: camera look or not. If you ask any news director
Speaker 3: right now, they are going to say, does she pop
Speaker 3: through the screen? Does she make me pay attention? I'm
Speaker 3: going to side in thirty seconds, whether or not I
Speaker 3: want her on my show? Can she grab an audience?
Speaker 3: That's what they're asking. So, yes, your looks are part
Speaker 3: of it, but it's about your presentation and you know,
Speaker 3: but there's other parts of this that I you know,
Speaker 3: these allegations that do matter that I believe should set
Speaker 3: precedent and hopefully change because when we come on and
Speaker 3: talk about these issues, there's an opportunity for change. I
Speaker 3: do believe that, and in this realm, I would say
Speaker 3: some of the things that I've seen that are disappointing,
Speaker 3: and if they are true, then maybe there's an opportunity
Speaker 3: for change. Personally, I would not be going out to
Speaker 3: drink with my bosses. We don't know if that happened.
Speaker 3: That is one of the allegations that was made. But
Speaker 3: on principle, I'm not going out to drinks with my executives.
Speaker 3: I'm not going out to parties with them for a
Speaker 3: number of reasons. One, I do not want to be
Speaker 3: talked about in my newsroom like that. Why was she
Speaker 3: out to drinks with them? What is she doing? I
Speaker 3: don't want them knowing my personal life. I don't want
Speaker 3: my bosses knowing my personal life. Number two and then
Speaker 3: number three, Now you're opening yourself up to rumors to
Speaker 3: spread about you that look like this. So this is
Speaker 3: why you have to strike the right balance when you're
Speaker 3: going to take a professional person into a public environment
Speaker 3: outside the professional work setting, because now you're opening yourself
Speaker 3: up to these types of allegations. So one, watch how
Speaker 3: you're moving, watch how you carry yourself in the workplace,
Speaker 3: because this is what you're going to open yourself up
Speaker 3: to potentially, especially if you're the one in the highest spot.
Speaker 3: A hairstylist is going to potentially come for you in
Speaker 3: this way. Now, mind you, again, these are allegations. I
Speaker 3: just want to continue to point that out because it's
Speaker 3: the to this conversation. So that's That's one of the
Speaker 3: main issues I wanted to bring up is not taking
Speaker 3: your bosses out to lunch and dinner and opening yourself
Speaker 3: up to this type of conversation, and three or two
Speaker 3: sending the wrong signals. You gotta make sure you're not
Speaker 3: sending the wrong signals.
Speaker 1: Dressing provocatively, drinking, speaking in a certain way that that's unprofessional,
Speaker 1: that's more informal than formal. All of those things definitely
Speaker 1: contribute to it. And I don't disagree.
Speaker 3: You talked about the attire and the room for change,
Speaker 3: and if you're okay with this, I would love to
Speaker 3: talk about that piece to it, because please take one
Speaker 3: of the talk to One of the things that people
Speaker 3: have talked about is the sports environment is the more
Speaker 3: laxed environment. You can wear a little bit, you can
Speaker 3: be more yourself, you can you know, test the waters
Speaker 3: a little bit about what you're gonna wear. Personally, I've
Speaker 3: been disappointed in some of the stuff I've been seeing
Speaker 3: when they wear in the sports environment, and not just
Speaker 3: the sports environment meteorologists, they're also wearing clothes that I'm
Speaker 3: not excited about. Because here's the thing. Don't you want
Speaker 3: to pay attention to what I'm saying. Don't you want
Speaker 3: people to pay attention to what I'm saying in my
Speaker 3: skill set? Don't be a distraction in the workplace, all right,
Speaker 3: you want people to care about what you're saying.
Speaker 2: Tory Cooper, Tory Cooper. Fit enough.
Speaker 1: But this is the stephen A. Smith Show, So you
Speaker 1: know where I'm going. I'm gonna ask this question. I
Speaker 1: need specifics. I mean, I'm not talking names. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about when you talk about you don't like the stuff
Speaker 1: that people.
Speaker 2: Wear in the industry. I need examples. The ladies out
Speaker 2: there need examples.
Speaker 3: Perfect example, crop chops showing your midrift on air. I
Speaker 3: don't care to see your belly button. We're not at
Speaker 3: the beach, but I see it on air in the
Speaker 3: sports world. Okay, that's number one. Number two, clevelandge, your
Speaker 3: boobs are out. You're distracting people. The main thing is,
Speaker 3: don't be distracting. But it's not just what the lack
Speaker 3: of clothing. It's also the choices of clothing too. The
Speaker 3: patterns are distracting. I'm seeing people wearing cheet of print,
Speaker 3: I'm seeing people wearing pinstripes. I'm seeing people wear all
Speaker 3: kinds of stuff that is completely distracting to the viewer.
Speaker 3: The point of television that you were supposed to learn
Speaker 3: early on is don't be a distraction to the viewer.
Speaker 3: Let them pay attention to what you're saying. But too
Speaker 3: many times I'm seeing people warn't, you know, inviting in
Speaker 3: to be a distraction. It looks like they want to
Speaker 3: be a distraction, honestly, and it looks like they want
Speaker 3: the attention at times. And what are we here for.
Speaker 3: We're here to be professionals, So let's show up that
Speaker 3: way so people can focus on your skill and what
Speaker 3: you have to say. Otherwise you're inviting the step of
Speaker 3: behavior in In my opinion, is.
Speaker 1: There any truth to the notion that people have speculated
Speaker 1: about that you have someplace and I can assure you
Speaker 1: it's not Disney, I can promise you that, but that
Speaker 1: there's some truth to the notion that you may have
Speaker 1: certain networks that encourage that directly or indirectly, for females
Speaker 1: to feel the need to dress in a certain provocative way.
Speaker 2: Have you or have you heard of any.
Speaker 1: Ladies in the industry expressing the notion that this is
Speaker 1: what their bosses wanted.
Speaker 3: Yes, I've heard that.
Speaker 2: I heard that.
Speaker 3: That's the environment that you're in, and it's especially so
Speaker 3: here's the thing. Consultants matter. This is why you're supposed
Speaker 3: to have consultants come consult you on your wardrobe, consult
Speaker 3: you on your makeup. And if these consultants are continuing
Speaker 3: to lean into a cult drobe, oh, yeah, that's the waters. Yeah,
Speaker 3: where that right color? Show your you know, yes, they
Speaker 3: are contributing to it at the end of the day.
Speaker 3: That's what I've heard for sure. But heresay's hearsay.
Speaker 1: Right, I guess for me, going back to my original point,
Speaker 1: it's not about what you say sometimes, it's about how
Speaker 1: you say it.
Speaker 2: So if you've had women all over so.
Speaker 1: Social media that were pissed off because Joey Taylor finds
Speaker 1: herself in this position and that's what they're oozing, I
Speaker 1: understand it. If you have women who were of the opinion,
Speaker 1: know this is just an allegation, it's not facts such
Speaker 1: as yourself such as me and what have you, And
Speaker 1: they said, hey, you know what benefit of the doubt
Speaker 1: in a sentintel proven guilty, etc. And by the way,
Speaker 1: she's incredibly qualified because we watched her for years and
Speaker 1: she knows what she's doing. I understand that what I
Speaker 1: have a problem with is the joy no pun intended
Speaker 1: females over social media appear to be having in bringing
Speaker 1: her credibility in the question, not understanding or not being
Speaker 1: sensitive to the plight that ladies have fought for decades
Speaker 1: to gain.
Speaker 2: And elevate their level of credibility.
Speaker 1: That's number one and number two of the men who
Speaker 1: will remain names because I really don't know. Oh as
Speaker 1: much as they deserve it, I just don't want to
Speaker 1: give them that kind of attention because the sorry asses
Speaker 1: don't deserve it, but are talking in such a way
Speaker 1: that they're acting like women don't belong in this industry.
Speaker 2: I can't believe they're getting away with stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you the last word on this toury,
Speaker 1: go ahead and respond to that.
Speaker 3: There's room for change. Don't be a distraction. The women
Speaker 3: on social media who are coming for Joy Taylor, it
Speaker 3: looks like it's coming from a place of jealousy. So
Speaker 3: that says something about you and the men who want
Speaker 3: to act like we don't belong at the table. Look
Speaker 3: at our credibility. How about you do some research on
Speaker 3: our background. Don't just look at the way I look.
Speaker 3: How about you go look into my experience and then
Speaker 3: we'll talk about it. But I'll leave a day.
Speaker 1: I got you, Tory, Cooper, appreciate you, Tom, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Tanks for being on the show with me today.
Speaker 1: I'll catch you with you later, right, all right, it's
Speaker 1: a good day.