NORTHVILLE, MICH. — In mid-November 2025, she departed the FOX Television Stations property serving the Detroit marketplace. In February, she took to social media platform X to thank all who had reached out, saying, “I miss connecting with you each day. I’m thoughtfully working through an unexpected work-related matter.”
That work matter involves a job loss Taryn Asher believes was discriminatory based on her gender, and that retaliation led to her departure.
Asher is accusing FOX Television Stations-owned WJBK “FOX 2” in Detroit of sex discrimination and retaliation, and has filed a lawsuit against FTS and WJBK in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The basis of the case against the FOX station is that a male co-worker received prime assignments, interviews and scheduling and that she was excluded from key news meetings.
The case details how Asher, a Michigan State University graduate, had been associated with WJBK-TV for years and as a news anchor since 2007. She’s won 11 Emmy Awards and has been honored by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. In 2022, Asher was promoted to the lead news anchor for FOX 2 Detroit’s evening newscasts.
Yet, despite her “substantial contributions to FOX and the Metro Detroit community for many years,” the former WJBK news anchor claims that during her employment, FOX “blatantly subjected” Asher to “discriminatory conduct and disparate treatment” based on her gender.
When Asher raised her concerns regarding this alleged conduct by WJBK, she claims she was subjected to “numerous acts of illegal retaliation.”
The allegations center around Paul McGonagle, who was hired as WJBK’s new GM in July 2025. Asher states that with his arrival, “an alarming pattern of female employees in leadership positions being terminated and replaced by men” supposedly transpired.
Asher then claims that co-anchor Roop Raj started getting more interview opportunities than her. By September 2025, Asher addressed these matters with Assistant News Director Sean Lee, who is female, and in a second meeting with McGonagle himself. He responded with a prospective opportunity to relaunch a program called “Let It Rip,” with Asher as host, and she liked the idea of helming the proposed weekday offering.
Then came a new News Director, Brooks Blanton, a few weeks after that meeting with McGonagle. After that, Asher claims Raj began receiving a high number of election-oriented interviews, keeping her out of the mix. Additionally, Asher claims there was a schedule adjustment debate over not having to host the Friday evening news if she was to helm “Let It Rip.”
On October 31, 2025, Asher took action in an e-mail to McGonagle to resolve a lingering qualm:
Good morning Paul, I’m excited about the Let It Rip reboot and want to ensure the show launches successfully. However, I need to be clear that I cannot move forward with launching the show, that will take a large amount of preparation time, until we first establish the schedule and expectations surrounding it. As I mentioned to Brooks, 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.
By early November, no resolution had been made regarding Asher’s schedule, with her insistence that it match that of Raj for a show he helms outside of the newscasts. With Asher pressing for a solution, McGonagle put Let it Rip “on hold.”
This set up a series of actions ultimately leading to a November 5 meeting with a Department of Human Resources representative. There, Asher was placed on leave pending an investigation into alleged complaints of “egregious behavior” the day before, when she went to multiple employees to discuss her claims of gender discrimination. Claims of unprofessional conduct and use of expletives by Asher were presented by WJBK.
After a two-week investigation while Asher was placed on leave, management determined that November 21, 2025 would be her final day at WJBK-TV.
For Asher, this was based on accusations that she had engaged in alleged “outbursts.” On November 25, a union representative contacted FTS on Asher’s behalf seeking a reinstatement of her employment, on the grounds that promotional announcements while she was on leave continued to note her presence at WJBK-TV. While she did not return to the station, FTS informed Asher that her employment would end in June 2026.
That’s now transpired, and the lawsuit’s timing is in concert with the end of her employment.
And, she’s not holding back, noting to the court that Raj in late 2012 was arrested for a DUI offense and received only a two-week suspension; and that McGonagle in November 2018 was also arrested on a drunk-driving charge. She also noted behavior of other FOX male employees that resulted in disciplinary action not leading to termination.
Asher’s agent, Mort Meisner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when reached by RBR+TVBR on Friday.
Upon graduating from Michigan State in 1997, she began her career as a reporter and anchor for WLNS-TV in Lansing, Mich. In 2000, she shifted to WJRT-TV in Flint, Mich., for a similar role.
