Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes is denying sexual harassment and discrimination claims made by former anchor Gretchen Carlson.
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Carlson has also stated that she also suffered pervasive harassment from Steve Doocy who co-hosted Fox & Friends with her until 2013.
Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed the lawsuit against Ailes following a decision not to renew her contract.
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 says that she was sacked on June 23 because she refused Ailes’ sexual advances, which then prompted the CEO and Chairman to punish her for months prior to letting her go. Carlson also wrote an essay past year at the time of her book launch that recounted the instances in which she had faced sexual harassment. In a statement, she wrote, “I had to stand up for myself and speak out for all women and the next generation of women in the workplace”.
Carlson’s termination last month was not announced by Fox at the time, and she herself tweeted that she was “on holiday”, according to Politico.
“As you may have heard, I am no longer with Fox News”, she shared via Twitter and Facebook.
On other occasions, the complaint alleges Ailes asked Carlson to “turn around so he could view her posterior, commented repeatedly about her legs, and instructed her to wear certain outfits that he claimed enhanced her figure”.
She said her contributions were belittled on air, she was mocked during commercial breaks and shunned off air, the lawsuit says.
In her memoir, Getting Real, Carlson talked openly about being the victim of sexual assault as she looked to parlay her Miss America crown into a successful career.
Her lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, tells Newsweek: “She’s taken on somebody known for being vicious in retaliation and who smears people, but she’s fearless”.
The suit says Carlson requested the September meeting because she was seeking to “bring to an end the retaliatory and discriminatory treatment she had endured”.
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While the lawsuit is based in part on alleged comments by Ailes in private conversations with Carlson, it provides no e-mail, texts or voice mail as evidence.
