A former Detroit TV news anchor filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging that she was fired after complaining about sex discrimination — and accused the station’s parent company of letting male employees get away with a laundry list of bad behavior.
Taryn Asher is seeking unspecified damages from Fox Television Stations and its owned-and-operated WJBK TV station, also known as Fox 2 Detroit.
Asher’s 24-page complaint cites a series of examples of how her male co-anchor, Roop Raj, was allegedly treated “more favorably” than her, including by receiving more assignments to interview guests.
Asher also alleges that WJBK allowed Raj to “circumvent and undermine” her before it fired her over allegations that were “substantially less severe than conduct which similarly-situated male employees engaged in without similar adverse action.”
“If Asher had not been female, she would not have been treated in the same discriminatory manner,” her filing says.
The male Fox employees who Asher says weren’t fired include Raj, who was “merely suspended” for two weeks after a 2012 driving under the influence arrest, and WJBK station general manager Paul McGonagle, who was promoted after getting arrested for driving while intoxicated when he was at a different Fox station, according to her lawsuit.
Asher’s lawsuit also cited an alleged 2013 disorderly conduct arrest of then-WJBK reporter Charlie LeDuff, the alleged “severe anger issues and violent tendencies” of Fox’s vice president of streaming content, an unidentified employee who allegedly shouted “F***” at a coworker, a “longtime male anchor” accused of repeated “sexually inappropriate comments” and two employees accused of “egregious sexual harassment of a female morning news anchor.”
Neither Fox Television Stations, WJBK, Raj nor McGonagle immediately returned inquiries from The Independent.
In a Thursday email, LeDuff said, “I was never arrested for disorderly (conduct). So that should tell you everything you need to know.”
Reports at the time said a police report showed the 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner was accused of biting a security guard during a brawl at Detroit’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, but no charges were filed.
Asher’s lawsuit, first reported by the Deadline Detroit website, says she “devoted the majority of her professional journalistic career to Fox” and became a “trusted and beloved fixture of the Metro Community” after being hired as a news anchor in 2007 and promoted to evening news lead anchor in 2022.
But after Fox named McGonagle WJBK’s general manager in 2025, Asher says she “noticed an alarming pattern of female employees in leadership positions being terminated and replaced by men.”
In addition to getting fewer guest interviews than Raj, Asher alleges that WJBK refused to adjust her schedule so she could host a show called “Let It Rip,” despite doing so for Raj when he began hosting a show called “The Pulse.”
On October 31, Asher says, she emailed McGonagle about that situation, saying, “I’m concerned about the lack of balance and equity, particularly compared to my co-anchor who holds the same responsibilities but has a more accommodating schedule.”
Three days later, she met with McGonagle, who allegedly refused to adjust her schedule and said her “Let It Rip” show would be put “on hold.”
The next day, which was Election Day, Asher arrived at work and learned that Raj had been assigned all the election-related guest interviews, prompting her to complain to two producers and Raj.
That led to an email from the station’s human resources director and a meeting the next day, during which Asher was put on leave pending an investigation into complaints of “egregious behavior,” according to her lawsuit, which also accuses Raj of telling the human resources department that she was “jealous” and had “an issue with men vs. women.”
After another meeting on November 14, Asher says, she was fired over alleged “outbursts,” although she never received a termination letter and has since been told that her employment will end in June and that her contract won’t be renewed.
