Fox announced Wednesday that it would launch an internal review after a lawsuit was filed by ex-anchor Gretchen Carlson alleging she was sexually harassed by CEO Roger Ailes.
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Carlson also claims in her complaint that Ailes once told people at an event that he likes to stay seated when women greet him so they have to “bend over” to say hello. She claimed Ailes’ decision to end her career at FOX News on June 23 was retaliatory. “This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously”.
Carlson said she was sacked as a host of the morning show “Fox & Friends” in 2013, and her pay reduced with the transfer to a daytime slot, because she had complained about sexual harassment.
In the ugliest Fox News feud since Megyn Kelly vs. Donald Trump, Roger Ailes has responded to Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit against him, and surprise!
The complaint, posted on the website of Carlson’s attorneys, said Carlson complained about a hostile work environment at Fox as far back as 2009.
In response, her complaint alleges, Ailes told her, “You and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago”.
“This was a hard step to take”, Carlson said in a statement.
Ailes is one of the most powerful executives in television news, having built Fox News over the past two decades into a source of more than $1 billion in profit a year.
Carlson alleged in her suit that Ailes made fun of her for complaining about unequal treatment and demoted her to the afternoon show as punishment.
“Opposing sexism and rejected unwanted sexual come-ons should never cost a woman her job or subject her to disparagement and emotional anguish”, Gretchen’s lawyers stated. When she denied his approach, she ended up being fired from her 2 p.m. newscast “The Real Story”, and her contract was terminated. “We take these matters seriously”, Fox said in a released statement.
Carlson named only Ailes, not Fox, as a defendant.
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The former host said in her own statement that she has “strived to empower women and girls throughout my entire career”. But the former anchor’s legal docs reveal a lot more than just Roger’s alleged inappropriate behavior – as her Fox & Friends co-host, Steve Doocy, 59, is put through the ringer, as well.
