*Listeners of the Armstrong Williams Show on SiriusXM got a shocker today as the host ended today’s program by letting them know that he will discuss a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by a former sales associate at a Washington, CD area Jos. A. Bank store.
The complaint filed by Charlton Woodyard against Williams, a media entrepreneur and an advisor in the failed presidential campaign of Ben Carson, seeks unspecified damages (from Williams) for seeking to “control Woodyard financially, professionally, and emotionally.”
The bottom line, according to the suit, was that Williams “abused his power to attempt to exploit [Woodyard] sexually.” The sequence of events outlined in the complaint starts in the spring of 2013, when Woodyard was 26 and working at Union Station’s Jos. A. Bank. Williams struck up a conversation with the sales associate and invited him early the next morning to his office, where they worked together for the whole day. Williams is a Sirius XM radio host and owner of seven television stations across the country.
Here’s what the Washington Post is reporting:
In the fall of 2013, Williams assisted Woodyard in securing a job at the Washington Times, thanks to a connection with then-top executive John Solomon. What happened after that? Very, very strange things, according to the complaint. Williams despaired that Woodyard was getting a life of his own and not spending sufficient quality time with him. So he rang up Solomon to protest that “Mr. Woodyard was not effective in his work at the Washington Times and had been given too much leeway in setting his work schedule.” While Williams issued these gripes to Solomon, Woodyard was in the same room as Williams, the suit states. “This call demonstrated to Mr. Woodyard that Mr. Williams had control over Mr. Woodyard’s employment at the Washington Times, and that he would not tolerate the fact that Mr. Woodyard had begun to find success independent of his patronage,” reads the complaint.
In November 2014, Solomon informed Woodyard that he’d likely fall victim to an upcoming round of staff reductions. To continue his livelihood, Woodyard proposed continuing to work with the Washington Times on a platform he planned to launch under the title “Washington Times Live.” The parties in April 2015 signed a memorandum of understanding for the product’s development, though the development phase left Woodyard without a steady source of income, claims the suit, which was drafted by Debra S. Katz of Katz Marshall & Banks.
So Woodyard reverted to dependence on Williams, who took his friend to the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and even included him in discussions with presidential hopeful Carson. “Mr. Williams confided in Mr. Woodyard about his concerns with Dr. Carson’s candidacy, including calling Dr. Carson ‘slow’ and ‘naïve’ and stating that he believed Dr. Carson lacked business savvy,” reads the complaint. Williams has served as Carson’s “business manager” and was widely quoted during the campaign.
Mixed into all these professional events were Williams’s alleged sexual advances, including one episode in which the radio host allegedly acted like this:
After Mr. Woodyard entered Mr. Williams’s bedroom to discuss business, Mr. Williams asked Mr. Woodyard: “why are you wearing so many layers?” When Mr. Woodyard responded that he was “freezing,” Mr. Williams replied that that he’s “got the heat” and that his “heat is better” than clothes for keeping him warm. Mr. Woodyard ignored the comment, as well as the grunting noises Mr. Williams was making, and instead tried to talk about ways in which Mr. Williams could support Washington Times Live.
At one point, Williams allegedly “grabbed Mr. Woodyard’s penis through his pants and said to him, “you got small feet, small hands… and an oversized weapon. How does that work? How is that possible?” Woodyard pushed away.
Yep, it’s gonna be real interesting to hear how Mr. Armstrong Williams explains this to his audience tomorrow on SiriusXM. By the way, his show airs from 6-8pm Eastern. In the meantime, you can read MORE about the situation at the Washington Post.
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