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Ex-Host Sues Fox, Says Network Operates Like ‘Playboy-Mansion-Like Cult’

NY — A former Fox News host has sued the network, its ousted chairman and other top executives, claiming they retaliated after she detailed unwanted sexual advances made by her onetime boss, Roger Ailes.

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In the past, Ailes also reportedly asked Tantaros to turn around “so I can get a good look at you”, the lawsuit claims.

Tantaros says in the lawsuit that the incident with Brown happened on August 18, 2015, when he appeared on the show “Outnumbered”. The suit also charges that Tantaros went to Bill Shine, then a senior news executive who was named co-president of Fox News earlier this month after Ailes stepped down, with her complaints.

A former host at Fox News has filed a lawsuit against executives at the company who punished her for complaining about Roger Ailes’ harassment.

Tantaros’ lawyer Judd Burstein told the New York Times that during arbitration, Fox News offered to pay her a sum “in the seven figures” if she renounced her claims against Ailes and others at the network, including O’Reilly.

The suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, comes a little more than a month after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Ailes. When she again refused, she alleges that she “encountered hostility from the Fox News publicity department”.

After rejecting Ailes’ advances, Tantaros was moved from her spot on The Five to Outnumbered, a lower-ranking show, and subjected to other degrading treatment.

Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She contends she was taken off the air after making complaints about them.

She says her job “devolved into a nightmare of sexual harassment” by Ailes (pictured above and below) in the summer of 2014.

Ailes resigned in July after Carlson said in a lawsuit that she was sacked because she refused his sexual advances. Those allegations – combined with reports that many other women had come forward with similar accusations – led Ailes to step down from the channel he had helped found. Meanwhile, Tantaros lawyer is arguing that Fox News is using the book as an excuse for termination of her employment. “It reads: “[this complaint] gives life to the saying that ‘the fish stinks from the head.’ For Ailes did not act alone. The suit also names Bill O’Reilly, alleging he made unwanted advances towards Tantaros. At the time of his promotion, Mr. Shine was senior executive vice president of programming for Fox News and Fox Business.

Stacey Dash turned in her black card to become a ride-or-die chick for Fox News.

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Since Ms Carlson’s suit was filed July 6, more than 20 women have told her attorneys that they were harassed by Mr Ailes during his long career in television, dating as far back as the mid-1960s.

Stephen Lovekin