OPINION & ORDER Defendants Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. and Fox News Network LLC (“Fox”), Dianne Brandi, Irena Briganti, and Charles Payne move to dismiss the Amended Complaint (“Complaint”) for failure to state a claim. For the reasons that follow, Defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.BACKGROUNDThe allegations of the Complaint are presumed true for purposes of this motion. This action is one of many in a cavalcade of sexual harassment suits plaguing Fox. It arises from a sexual relationship between Charles Payne — a Fox anchor, contributor, and host — and Scottie Nell Hughes, a conservative political strategist and pundit. After meeting in the spring of 2013, Payne took an interest in Hughes and sought out opportunities to spend time with her. The two reunited in New York in the summer of 2013. As they made their way to Fox’s studios, Payne pressured Hughes into providing him with her hotel room information. Under the guise of mentoring her, Payne persuaded Hughes to agree to a private meeting in her room. But instead of discussing work and career opportunities, Hughes alleges that Payne sexually assaulted and raped her.While humiliating and traumatizing, Hughes, like many sexual assault victims, chose not to report the incident. Rather, invitations to appear as a guest contributor on various Fox programs, including Payne’s, began flowing in. She began making regular appearances on Fox’s program circuit, at one point appearing nearly every day of the week on Payne’s show. But Hughes’ ability to pursue these opportunities were significantly constrained by a quid pro quo relationship with Payne. That is, Fox and Payne offered her appearances on these nationally televised shows as long as she continued to maintain a sexual relationship with Payne. Indeed, whenever the boundaries of that relationship were tested through Hughes’ attempts to sever the affair, she was invariably presented with the threat of losing her program appearances.By June 2015, however, Hughes ended her relationship with Payne. The fallout was swift. Once a regular guest on a panoply of Fox programs, Hughes found herself appearing as a panelist on only five occasions over the following ten months. As Fox and Payne stymied the flow of work to Hughes, Hughes also found it difficult to secure opportunities with other networks. Hughes and her manager later learned that Fox had blacklisted her across the industry, casting her as “not bookable” due to her affair with Payne.In June 2017, amid the various sexual harassment scandals engulfing Fox, Hughes reported the 2013 rape to Fox and its outside counsel. In an attempt to find a business solution, Hughes hoped that Fox would remove her from the blacklist. To her surprise, Fox appeared uninterested in helping her, instead assuming a hostile position toward her and aggressively seeking additional details about her report. Mere hours after that conversation, Fox disseminated a prepared statement from Payne to the National Enquirer, a tabloid that had planned on running a story about Payne’s affair. While the statement did not expressly identify Hughes as Payne’s paramour, it revealed Fox’s strategy of undermining Hughes’ report that she had been a rape victim. Hughes asserts that the National Enquirer story led reporters to deduce that Hughes was the woman in question. A few days after the publication of the article, a cache of emails detailing the lascivious nature of her communications with Payne were leaked to the public, definitively casting doubt on Hughes’ credibility and subjecting her to widespread scorn.Based on these events, Hughes now brings an assortment of employment and gender discrimination claims predicated on Title VII, the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), and the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”). She also asserts three separate causes of action for defamation, seeking damages arising from Fox’s alleged disclosure of her identity to the National Enquirer. Finally, Hughes invokes a seldom used New York City law — the Gender-Motivated Violence Act — against Payne seeking damages arising from the sexual assault and rape.I. The Alleged Rape and Sexual AssaultIn April 2013, Hughes met Charles Payne, a Fox Business Network anchor and contributor. They appeared together on a number of Fox programs. (Amended Complaint, ECF No. 29 (“Compl.”),
26, 75.) After their first meeting, Hughes and Payne again appeared together on Hannity. (Compl. 75.) Over the next several months, Hughes and Payne corresponded with each other. Payne expressed his willingness to mentor Hughes and help advance her career. (Compl. 76.)In July 2013, Hughes accepted Payne’s invitation to accompany him to a Manhattan museum, after which they shared a cab back to Fox’s headquarters. During this ride, Payne asked Hughes for her hotel room information. She refused. At Fox’s studios, Payne persisted in his efforts to obtain Hughes’ hotel room number. Hughes ultimately relented and agreed to meet privately with Payne in her room. (Compl.
