Right-wing Newsmax accused of ‘allowing’ handsy supervisor to sexually harass guests, staffer
Exclusive: The right-wing channel has “created, and allowed to exist, a hostile work environment” that lets sex pests operate with impunity, according to one former employee.
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Your support makes all the difference.A broadcast engineer for the Trump-loving cable channel Newsmax behaved inappropriately with female guests, along with his own underling, without any repercussions from network bosses.
That’s according to an eye-popping lawsuit obtained by The Independent, which alleges John Belthoff has carried out “a campaign of severe and pervasive sexual harassment” enabled by the right-wing outlet. Newsmax “created, and allowed to exist, a hostile work environment that allows supervisory male employees to sexually harass subordinate female employees,” the lawsuit states. It further accuses Newsmax of having “aided and abetted” the improper conduct, claiming multiple guests on the network’s shows complained about being subjected to disturbing interactions with Belthoff.
In one instance described in the suit, Belthoff allegedly made a crude remark to a female guest while miking her for sound about “stick[ing] my whole fist up your shirt.” In another off-color incident, Belthoff is accused of crudely offering to check a female guest for a hernia as he reached under her dress with a microphone prior to her going on the air.
“I have no comment,” Belthoff, 62, told The Independent in a brief phone conversation on Tuesday. “Thank you for calling.”
“We take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously and are committed to fostering a safe and respectful workplace for all employees,” Newsmax spokesman Bill Daddi said in an email. “We believe this matter was handled properly by the company.”
Daddi did not elaborate on how the situation was handled, but did confirm that Belthoff remains employed at the network even though his LinkedIn profile and professional website make no reference at all to Newsmax.
Meanwhile, Belthoff’s accuser, 26-year-old Mia Louis Jeune, says her hours were cut to zero after she complained to Newsmax higher-ups about his come-ons.
Jeune’s attorney, Reyna Lubin, said standing up to Newsmax was a “courageous decision” on her client’s part. Belthoff’s alleged harassment began almost immediately, and when Jeune complained, she “was removed from the weekly schedule and no longer welcome in the workplace,” Lubin told The Independent, adding, “Sexual harassment in the workplace will not be tolerated.”
In 2021, Newsmax came under fire for allegedly providing a “haven” for sex pests, including powerful men accused of everything from harassment to rape. Last year, numerous Newsmax staffers accused the network’s vice president ofof pervasive sex harassment. Newsmax was also raked over the coals last year for hiring Ed Henry, a former Fox News anchor fired in 2020 amid sexual misconduct allegations.
The latest suit comes at a particularly inauspicious moment for Newsmax, which is fending off multibillion-dollar defamation claims by the country’s two largest voting machine companies after the channel parroted former President Donald Trump’s false assertions of ballot-rigging in the 2020 presidential election. Newsmax has already been forced to publicly apologize to the director of product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems after it aired fully debunked conspiracy theories about him helping throw the presidency to Joe Biden, resulting in targeted harassment and death threats.
The allegations against Belthoff are contained in a July 2 lawsuit filed by plaintiff Mia Louis Jeune, a singer-songwriter-cum-audio engineer who took a job at Newsmax in November 2023.
“Soon after Ms. Jeune started working, her supervisor, John Belthoff, began a campaign of severe and pervasive sexual harassment against her,” Jeune’s suit states. “Belthoff would repeatedly text and call Ms. Jeune to sexually harass her and physically isolate her from her coworkers to make offensive and unwanted sexual advances.”
About a week into her new job, the lawsuit says Belthoff, a 62-year-old New Jersey resident, emailed Jeune a screenshot of her horoscope, which stated, “Someone you are attracted to may be playing hard to get but if you keep at it they will crack eventually. Maybe they are fearful of letting you know that they are as enamored of you as you are of them. Passion can be a troublesome thing.”
Later that same day, according to the suit, “Belthoff texted Ms. Jeune saying, ‘I think I may be that guy in your horoscope.’”
From there, things only got worse, Jeune’s suit alleges. When Belthoff called Jeune on one of her days off, and told her he believed the two of them had “a special connection,” Jeune immediately dashed the older man’s expectations, according to the lawsuit.
“[T]o be clear, I am not interested in anything romantic or sexual,” Jeune replied, the suit states. “I am here solely to work.”
Apparently undeterred, Belthoff allegedly told Jeune that “boundaries are bullshit.”
“You’re confused,” he said, according to the suit. “You’re nervous. You’re being defensive. Don’t go all crazy bitch on me. I’m going to make you do things you may not want to do. It’s up to you to do them. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.”
The next day, Belthoff told Jeune that if the two of them didn’t work together, he would “have [her] in a hotel room,” adding, “If it happens, it happens,” the lawsuit states.
Following yet another unwanted advance from Belthoff, Jeune — just three weeks into the job — reported him to Newsmax HR, according to the lawsuit.
But Belthoff became irate with Jeune for blowing the whistle, the suit says. It alleges he “demanded that Ms. Jeune retract her complaint… regarding his sexually harassing conduct,” which Jeune claims Newsmax tacitly permitted. The HR department “discourage[d] [Jeune] from gathering supporting documentation of the harassment,” the suit continues.
“Moreover, Newsmax has allowed Belthoff to sexually harass and assault its show’s guests,” Jeune’s lawsuit goes on. “On one occasion, when Belthoff was giving a mic to a female guest, Ms. Jeune observed him tell the guest, ‘I could stick my whole fist up your shirt, but I’ll let you do the honors.’ On another occasion, a female guest informed and warned Ms. Jeune of Mr. Belthoff placing his hand beneath the guest’s dress to fit her with a microphone. While his hand was beneath her dress, Belthoff told the female guest to ‘turn her head to the left and cough.’”
For its part, Newsmax “failed to address any of Ms. Jeune’s reports despite her attempts to follow up,” according to the suit, which calls out Newsmax for its alleged pattern of inaction. Further, after Jeune complained, she was “removed from the schedule and never invited back to work at Newsmax,” the lawsuit states.
Lubin said on Wednesday that she and co-counsel Eric Baum “look forward to pursuing justice on [Jeune’s] behalf.”
Jeune’s suit asks for damages to be determined at trial, as well as a court order for Newsmax to “develop, implement, promulgate, and comply with a policy providing for the training of each and every employee in the civil rights of employees in the workplace, including but not limited to gender and sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation.”