NEW YORK CITY, NY – New reports have surfaced online, from alleged victims of Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes, following the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Gretchen Carlson, former host of ‘Fox & Friends’.
After the lawsuit was officially issued, a number of Fox News on-air personalities reached to the media anonymously, to reveal that the incident does not come as much of a surprise to them, knowing that the channel’s chairman and Carlson were at odds.
“We thought it would happen after she was taken off of ‘Fox & Friends,’” said one Fox News source who asked to remain anonymous. “She kept quiet because Roger gave her the afternoon show, but everyone at Fox knew it was eventually coming. He hated her and would tell people that she was ‘a crazy, vindictive bitch.’”
Other sources that work for the channel suggest that the concept of a lawsuit first came up back in 2013, when Carlson was dismissed from the Fox & Friends show, though the conflict was settled when Ailes agreed to give her the afternoon show and therefore Carlson did not move forwards with any legal procedures.
Carlson was hosting the “Fox & Friends” morning program from 2006 until 2013, when, allegedly, she was removed due to issuing complaints about her male co-host Steve Doocy.
As far as the lawsuit is concerned, in speficic, Carlson accuses Ailes of mockery when complaining about unequal treatment by male colleagues, and that she was demoted to the afternoon show as retribution, coupled with a severe cut to her payment. Furthermore, Carlson alleges that Fox News chairman demanded her to engage in sexual contact with him, thus making it possible for her to improve her standing at Fox News.
Carlson also mentions in the lawsuit that during these particular occasions, Ailes once told her to “turn around so he could view her posterior.”
Following in the steps of Carlson, at the time of writing, ten women have reached to her attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, to report similar encounters they had with Ailes.
One female contributor said, “He asked me to turn around so he can see my ass,”, describing one of her meetings with the chairman.
Another Fox News employee claims that Ailes told her she could only wear dresses on air. She also mentioned a story regarding Ailes hiring process for on-camera personalities.
“He always brags to people about how he doesn’t do polling or testing when he chooses his on-air talent. He told me that if he was thinking of hiring a woman, he’d ask himself if he would fuck her, and if he would, then he’d hire her to be on-camera. He then said if it was a man he’d think about whether he could sit down for a baseball game with him and not get annoyed of him. If he could, then he’d hire him.”
Carlson’s lawsuit concludes with the allegation that Ailes fired her for refusing the chairman’s sexual advances.
Via: New York Times