Ailes, the network’s founding chairman and guiding force for two decades, resigned last month after a former anchor, Gretchen Carlson, said that she was sacked for refusing his sexual advances. At that time, the network said she made up the claims because she breached her contract after writing a book without getting network clearance. On Monday on-air personality Andrea Tantaros filed a suit in NY alleging that the network’s executives actively retaliated against after she repeatedly complained about inappropriate conduct in the workplace. Carlson’s lawsuit led Ailes to resign on July 21, and Fox has said it launched an internal investigation.
Advertisement
Ailes’ senior executives engaged in “a concerted effort to “silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation and retaliation”, the court papers also state”.
“I had little, if any contact with Ms. Tantaros and always treated her and every other employee at Fox with professionalism”, he said.
According to Think Progress, Tantaros alleges she was eventually removed from the air because of her complaints, but offered to continue to pay her if she dropped any legal actions towards Ailes and O’Reilly and agreed to never speak publicly about her time at the network. Ailes asked Tantaros to “twirl” so that “I can get a good look at you”, which she refused to do.
The official complaint reminds us that this is not just about Roger Ailes, and that the whole organization has a long history of mistreating its female employees and sweeping harassment under the rug or intimidating its victims into silence. The lawsuit said Tantaros pulled back and told him to stop.
But according to Mr Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, Ailes is not involved in the campaign itself.
Brown, a frequent contributor as a political commentator on the news network, allegedly made inappropriate comments to Tantaros last summer while on set for an appearance on Outnumbered.
Tantaros has sued Fox’s ousted chief and network executives for sexual harassment. It launched an independent investigation after Carlson brought her lawsuit: As many as 10 women have come forward with harassment charges.
According to an excerpt shared by The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser, Tantaros alleges that Brown inappropriately touched her after appearing on Outnumbered, on or around August 18, 2015. She says Brown put his hands on her lower waist at lunch.
Her lawsuit names several men who Tantaros claims made unwanted sexual comments or advances toward her, including O’Reilly, Brown, Fox News correspondent John Roberts, on-air guest Ben Collins, and actor Dean Cain.
Advertisement
“She knows I was sexually abused as a kid and these things are pretty personal and I take those types of sexual innuendo and all that stuff pretty seriously and don’t perpetuate that kind of narrative”, Brown said.
