Now the only agreement that they have in place with the man is the existing employment agreement between himself and the company.
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The likely departure of the former aide to Richard Nixon who defied the odds when he launched Fox News 20 years ago could present a big problem for the Murdochs.
As we’ve reported, former Fox news anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes for sexual harassment earlier this month. Since then, six more women have accused Ailes of sexual harassment. NY magazine writer Gabriel Sherman reported today that parent company 21st Century Fox had given Ailes a deadline of August 1 to resign or be fired in light of its investigation into his alleged sexual harassment. However, Ailes is viewed less favorably by Murdoch’s sons, James and Lachlan, who now have leadership roles at 21st Century Fox.
Ultimately, Mr. Ailes signed on for three years and technically reports to all three Murdochs, making him the only 21st Century Fox executive who still is a direct report to Rupert Murdoch. And tonight, Breitbart News reported that more than 50 Fox on-air personalities will walk if Ailes is forced out.
While the terms or certainty of an Ailes exit may not yet have been reached – or may not be reached – a Drudge Report headline on Tuesday afternoon blared that the executive’s exit would come with a million parachute. But the tweet was nearly immediately taken down. The publication reported Tuesday that Mr. Ailes has an August 1 deadline to resign. “So there’s a lot of negotiations going on”. She added, “There is no agreement, there is no deal, and the review is ongoing”.
Carlson alleged that Ailes made comments about her physical appearance, and once told her that he would pick her to be stranded with on a desert island and that they should have had a sexual relationship long ago.
Ailes has denied the claims and called the lawsuit “wholly without merit”.
Rupert Murdoch and his family own 21st Century Fox and Fox News through the Murdoch Family Trust. Ailes also stocked Fox News’s ranks with attractive blond female news readers and positioned them on news sets with their bare legs exposed. Doocy is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The most explosive part of Sherman’s report involved Kelly, Fox’s 9 p.m. host. Carlson’s lawyers said her contract was terminated on June 23.
“Gretchen Carlson’s allegations are false”, he wrote in a statement.
Conflicting reports of an imminent departure for Ailes played out at the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, including tweets from conservative political commentator Matt Drudge saying the Fox executive had in hand a $40 million USA exit package.
In a tweet, Fox said, “Roger is at work”.
In Cleveland, the site of the Republican National Convention, Ailes’s fate was a ubiquitous topic of conversation.
But if Ailes is on his way out, he hasn’t hit the exits just yet. Fox News is a favored source of information among conservatives and Republican faithful, and word that Ailes could be on his way out for such awful conduct is a shock to many delegates and guests at the convention. “And nearly nobody can imagine what it becomes without Roger Ailes”.
In a video posted to Twitter Tuesday, Carlson said she wants “to support all women who have been victims of sexual harassment” and said that “it’s so important that we will not be silenced”.
Ailes has strongly denied the accusation.
“It has become obvious that Ms. Carlson and her lawyer are desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue”.
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Surely the elder Murdoch knew of the allegations.
