Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The first order of business I'm going to get into.
I'm going to make sure that I don't get into
it alone. Before I bring up the subject, let me
introduce all of you to a friend of mine, a
dear friend of mine, who's contributing to the show. This
her second day contributing to the show. She is the wonderful,
the incomparable, Tory Cooper. She is there sitting in my
seat in my studio. How are you, Tory, how's everything going?
(00:25):
How is your weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's an honor to be here, you know, I spent
it here in New York.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I enjoyed it, Steven.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It was great to get a call back from you
to talk with you on your show again.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
That's right, and that's what we have to do.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
And I'll get back to you in just the second Tory,
because I definitely want to get your take on a
couple of matters, because I think it's apropos that I
have you here with me. I have to get started
with this subject because we all know that anytime you
mentioned Skip Bayless, anybody wants to Most folks want to
hear what I have to say.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
And that's where we're going to get started.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Because it's sports media news, which makes it apropos, and
it involves a recent law suit filed against Fox, Fox
Sports and several people, including my buddy, Skip Bayless, my
former colleague at ESPN. The suit, filed by a woman
named Nashine Faraji, a former hairstylist for the company, cites
(01:14):
several instances of workplace misconduct.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Okay, The forty.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Two page that's right, forty two page suit names several defendants,
including Fox Sports executive vice president Charlie Dixon and even
host Joy Taylor. Faraji alleges Dixon grabbed her buttocks at
a birthday party, and when she relayed the encounter to Taylor,
the Fox host allegedly told her to quote.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Get over it. End quote.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
As for Skip Bayless, Faraji says he touched her inappropriately
and propositioned her for sex, offering her one point five
million dollars end quote. I'll get to Tory and her
thoughts on him for a second this things. First, let
me tell you why I had to cover this.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Number one. It is news. Number two. I was just
on the air a few weeks ago and took some
heat for.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
The fact that I pointed out that I've been friends
with jay Z for twenty five years, and I know
nothing about what happened, no intimate details. Certainly can't be
irresponsible and not try to interfere with a legal matter
of lawsuit. But in the same breath, I didn't think
it was a crime to point out that the person
that I've known for twenty five years, that I've never
(02:32):
seen somebody that would be capable of that, with that
meaning that person that I was around for twenty five years.
The same applies to Skip Bayless. Now, I don't know
what happened. I don't work at Fox. I worked at
Fox from two thousand and one to two thousand and three.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I haven't been there.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I haven't been in that building, and over twenty years,
I don't know any details or anything like that, and
I'm not here to cast a gate ms Varaji or
anybody else. I don't know Charlie Dixon that well, even
though he used to play, used to work I'm sorry
at ESPN. I don't know Joy Taylor that well, even
(03:10):
though she and I have interacted with one another on
several occasions throughout her career, and I find her to
be a consummate professional, very good at what she does,
very capable, very knowledgeable about the world of sports and
what have you. I also know that she's big on
women empowerment, so it's hard to imagine her saying get
over it.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
But again, I don't know, but we all know that
when you see Stephen A.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Smith with a subject like this and the name involves
Skip Baylor's, that's what you want to know about.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
And here's what I would tell you. I don't know
what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
But just like I said, I've known jay Z for
twenty five years, I can't imagine that I've known Skip
for just as long.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
I can't imagine it.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I can't imagine it, especially when they brought up the
one and a half million dollars. The Skip Baylor's I know,
has a hard time giving away fifteen dollars. He's one
of the cheapest people I know.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
That's just me.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But that doesn't mean that I have any inside knowledge
about any of this.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Don't. I don't, and I'm not going to get involved.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I think it's incredibly dicey and irresponsible for people who
don't know to act like they do know. But in
the same breath, I also feel it's important that if
you know people or you think you know people and
you've had a long standing relationship with those people that it's.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Not a crime for you to say.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
The person that I know, the person that I've been around,
the person that I worked with in his case, you know,
for four straight years from twenty twelve to twenty sixteen
doing First Take every weekday morning at ten am to
twelve noon. The person that I knew since our days
at Fox Sports when we would appear on Jim Rome's
show Okay the Last Word and stuff like that, and
(04:50):
we were in the same Fox building off of Pico
Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
The person that I've seen that.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Really really trust almost no one and doesn't explo himself
to anybody, you know, eating the same breakfast and lunch
every day. His vice is a diet mountain dew, and
he doesn't.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Socialize with people. That's the guy I know.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
So imagining him being in this kind of position is
shocking to say the least. All I could tell you
is that it's not the Skip Bayliss I know. But
obviously this is a legal matter he's going to have
to deal with, because this situation doesn't appear to be
going away a lawsuit has been filed.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
This person, who's a hair stylist.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
The people that I've spoken to in the last twenty
four hours that have some knowledge about her says that
she's the kind of person that she's meticulous with her details,
and she's going to chronicle things and that's how she operates.
I don't know her, I don't know them. I know Skip,
and I'm very very hard broken that he finds himself
(06:01):
in this situation being accused of these allegations. But I
can't be over the airways being irresponsible and attaching truth
or inn or guilt to anything that I know nothing about.
All I can say, and I don't think it's a
crime to say it's just like I said with jay Z,
the person that I know for twenty five years, I've
never seen anything like that from that person, anything close
(06:23):
to that from that person.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
That's the same thing that I.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Would tell you about Skip Bayles's That's all I can say.
I have nothing else to add because I don't.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Know what happened. I don't know what was said.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
I don't know whether something was misconstrued or anything like that.
That's where I'm coming from with it. Tori, I know
you had thoughts and opinions about this. I'm really interested
in hearing what you have to say. You are a
lady in this industry. You've been a journalist for years.
You know what level of professional integrity is supposed to
come with the business. You know the tenets that come
(06:56):
associated with it. And obviously I am not a woman.
You are, and so when you see a story like this,
I like to know what your thoughts are in any
perspective you can provide.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
My initial reactions were disappointment as well, because Skip Bayless
has an incredible legacy in the sports commentary world. You
worked alongside him. Everybody knows Skip Bayless, and it was
disappointing to know that his name was going to be
when you google his name today. This is the lawsuit
that's going to pop up, and this may pop up
for several weeks now, So you can't get away from
(07:27):
something like this once it's in writing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
This is a civil matter, and anytime you're reading a
forty page document like this, when I read through it,
you know, initially you know you have to be unbiased
when you're listening to these allegations, but you have to
remember that this is simply that allegations, and this is
going to be an issue that's going.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
To be talked about for several weeks.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
But initially I was disappointed to see Skip's name in
this as well as miss Faragi. You know, as a woman,
I can tell you that whenever you hear about your
colleagues or.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Anyone going through this, you're hurt for them, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And based off her allegations in this civil lawsuit, she
says that she spoke to several people about trying to
talk about some of the things that she was allegedly
exposed to, and she was told to be quiet and
that if you want to keep your job as a
single mother, you need to let this go. And seems
like she was there for a number of years, seven
to ten years that she was there, and she talks
(08:22):
about a number of different allegations in different instances when
she was exposed to other people. She mentioned Charlie Dixon
Dixon executive vice president. She mentioned that she was allegedly
at a bar where you know, her back was growth,
et cetera. So there's a number of different allegations as
you come through this suit that are alarming, and then
the silencing behavior that allegedly took place, and unfortunately, Stephen,
(08:45):
in this world that we live in. I mean, it's
one of the reasons why I left the sports industry initially,
because I felt like I was people were flirting with
me and not taking my perspective or my preparations seriously
when I would show up to interview them, because it's
hard to get passed your looks, and as you saw,
she's an absolutely beautiful woman, you know. So that's just
it's the unfortunate reality of the sports world.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Is that world.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
But it's not just in sports, it's in news too.
So yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Got a couple of questions to throw you away because
I'm very interested and intrigued by something. A couple of
things that you said. Number One, you talked about the
partying from the sports from the sports industry for a while,
because you know, the way folks approached you. It's one
thing for folks, and I'm not saying thing it's appropriate,
please don't get me wrong, but it's one thing for
(09:32):
somebody to flirt with you or to not take you
seriously because of your looks. Were they did you consider
it harassment? And if so, what would you define as harassment.
Just for a lot of youers out there, both male
and female, who don't get that sometimes explain.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That I would definitely not consider it harassment at all.
I just was advancements that I was not interested in
being around at all, especially when I'm at work. I'm
trying to focus on work, and I come here to
respect you, and I would expect the exact same in return.
If I'm going to prepare questions and watch you for
nearly two hours and take notes on your play, and
(10:09):
then I show up in your locker room to have
a conversation with you, and I'm even filming this myself
and editing my editing this myself at times, how come
you can't give me the same.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Respect as a professional.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That was the environment I was in, and for me,
that's not the level of respect I wanted to be
exposed to on a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And I saw that this was.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Going to be a mountain climb with men potentially just
being disrespectful doesn't now, as you asked me about the
difference between disrespect essentially and harassment.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
No one touched me.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I didn't have to push advances away, and that's in
the sports arena. But I did have to push advances
away in the news arena. So you know, someone unfortunately
you know, ended up getting fired, uh for the way
that I was handled inappropriately, And won't you know, go into.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Specific details about that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
But I was at work mining my business and someone
made some advances that were inappropriate and they were eventually fired.
And as it relates to speaking up about that, I
can tell you personally, I was scared to speak up
about it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I was genuinely scared. This is one of my first
jobs in TV.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I just landed a sports reporting and anchor job and
the last thing I wanted to do was attract any
attention to myself in any way. And I wanted to
make sure that the focus will remain on my talent,
Toys and not a problem. Tory comes in as a
professional does her job, and I'm not ending up in
HR with complaints and having to go back and forth
and prove that this happened when there's no cameras around
(11:35):
and so. But by the grace of God, I had
women around me who said, Toy absolutely not. This has
been an issue with not just you, this is an
issue that we have all been dealing with and now
this he just took it too far and it just
happened to be with you, and you owe it to
not only yourself to respect yourself, but also all of
us who have been going through this too, to speak
(11:56):
up about it.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
So I did.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So, what are your thoughts about the you know, the
allegations that Joy Taylor, another woman you know who's in
this industry, who's recognized as being very attractive but also
very capable, very professional. What are your thoughts with the
allegations that she told Ms Varaji get over it? I mean,
(12:20):
first of all, is that something that you deem plausible
possible that women may say to each other in this industry?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Do you find that to be far fetched?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
What do you make of that we were not in
the room, so we'll never know? These are allegations, right,
I want to make sure that's clear. Whenever we talk
about topics like this, we have to make sure that
these are of course really well understood.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
These are allegations. We are not in the room. Now.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
On the other side of that, I will say that
luckily I was in a room where someone was telling
me to come forward, but I am not shocked that
other women would.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Essentially say, look, it's not.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
You're dealing with Fox, this is a huge corporation. Keep
your hairstylist job. Don't speak up.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Just try to let it go.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And you know, I would not be shocked by that
at all. Yeah, it would not be shocked by that.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I know it shocked me. It definitely shocked me because
when I see a lot of women with their podcasts,
the television shows, etc. And very very big on women empowerment,
you know, big, you know, uplifting ladies in this industry
and what have you, it's hard to imagine that something
like that would be said because obviously that stays with
you forever. But you know, the I think the tough
(13:28):
part for Joy Taylor is that these two were considered.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Friends for a very long time.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
If there's anybody that you can find in in terms
of your thoughts, it would be somebody you perceive as
a friend. So in that regard, I don't know what
to make of it. I just have to acknowledge that.
Having said that, when we look at the situation right
now with Skip, my problem is this, and I said
this Tory, and I took heat for this, but I
didn't care. It's one thing if you come over the airwaves,
(13:58):
and you're proclaiming somebody's in this and you weren't there
then that you couldn't provide an eyewitness account, et cetera,
et cetera. I think that's beyond the pale. I don't
think any of us could do that. I can't do
that for Skip today. I couldn't do that for jay
Z a few weeks ago. I couldn't do that for anybody.
But it's another thing entirely where you've known somebody for
twenty five years and it's a crime for you to say,
(14:20):
that's not what I saw. I've never seen anything that
would give me that kind of indication. I would hope
that if somebody had made an accusation something like that
against me, that people would look at me and be like, Nah,
Stephen ain't doing that.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
That's not who the hell he is. He wouldn't at
least say that. That's how I feel as.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
A woman in this industry, as a woman period, in
the world that we're living in, where such heightened awareness
has been pushed towards acknowledging what women have had to
go through and what you've had to be silent about
for so long, How do you feel about people who
take such a position like the one that I just described.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
The it's a character witness.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I mean, you have twenty five years of a relationship
with someone, and as you said, I would hope that
friends of mine in the industry would know that if
someone was making allegations against me that they felt were
out of character to go alongside the Tory Cooper name.
I would hope that a friend like you in the
industry who's had personal experiences with someone would speak up,
(15:24):
you know, but at the end of the day, be
cognizant of the fact that, look, at the end of
the day, this is the person I knew, and I
was not in that room.