Chicago radio host Eric Ferguson has been accused of coercing an assistant producer on “Eric in the Morning” into performing sexual favors, according to a report in the Sun Times.
Cynthia DeNicolo, who worked at WTMX-FM (known as The Mix), said she was coerced into performing oral sex on him about twice a month from January to August of 2004. She filed a lawsuit in May after, the paper and suit say, she was fired in May of 2020. The complaint points out that though COVID-19 cuts were blamed, she believes Ferguson was behind her firing. She accuses him of continuing “to torment” her throughout her employment by asking for continued sexual favors and reminding her he had power over her job.
Per the suit, “Ferguson used codewords to communicate his unwanted demands for oral sex. He would tell DeNicolo he ‘needed a backrub.’”
The activity took place, the suit says, after work events or in his apartment. A lawyer for Ferguson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap, but did file a motion to dismiss the suit last month, per the Sun Times, claiming it was “devoid of factual allegations.”
The host “emphatically denies the existence of a sexual relationship with plaintiff as well as engaging in the other conduct alleged in the complaint.”
A representative for WTMX did not immediately return a request for comment.