Before we try to figure out what might come next in the Fox News sexual harassment saga, let’s review how we got to the point where the cable giant’s parent company has agreed to a $20 million settlement with former anchor and principal accuser Gretchen Carlson.
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Greta Van Susteren will be leaving Fox News, a surprise announcement made just minutes after her colleague Gretchen Carlson settled her lawsuit against former chief Roger Ailes for $20 million stated.
Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against former network CEO Roger Ailes in July, claiming that he “sabotaged her career” because she “refused his sexual advances and complained about severe and pervasive sexual harassment”.
Before this settlement, Ailes rallied Fox News employees to come to his defense and smear Carlson as presenting a fabricated story.
Women who are facing sexual harassment at work may feel empowered by Carlson, who stood up to her harassment and won a real and prompt resolution, said Emily Martin, vice president of workplace justice for the National Women’s Law Center. “I want to thank all the fearless women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me”, she said.
There were initial reports that Ailes was paying part of the Carlson settlement himself, but the former Fox chairman’s lawyer Susan Estrich said that this is not the case, and that 21st Century Fox is paying the full amount. It was a relationship that worked well for both sides as Van Susteren’s show was a solid ratings performer, and brought her added fame and fortune once Fox News toppled CNN as the No. 1 cable television network.
Van Susteren last revised her contract with Fox News in May of 2013. In the message, Van Susteren said, “Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years”.
“Any settlement is going to take into account how much the (plaintiff) was earning, as well as the notoriety of the person being accused”, said Wigdor, who is not involved in the case. But two weeks after the suit was filed, Ailes resigned from his post as chairman and CEO of Fox News. When she was unable to renegotiate her contract, she chose to activate that clause.
NY magazine had reported that Carlson had taped her conversations with Ailes over the course of a year.
“Fox News wanted to have credibility in this election season”, he said.
Carlson, who won the Miss America beauty pageant in 1989, was a long-time co-host on the “Fox and Friends” morning program before getting her own show in 2013.
Meanwhile, Greta Van Susteren is out as a nighttime host on Fox News, replaced temporarily by Brit Hume starting tonight.
When those negotiations deadlocked, Van Susteren chose to invoke the departure option, the sources said. Ailes is believed to have departed 21st Century Fox with an agreement that won him a payout of about $40 million, or the salary he would have earned under his most recent contract. “I’m honored to be asked”, Hume said in a statement.
Carlson, a top Fox personality, had been with the network for more than a decade.
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Tantaros called Fox News a “sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult”.
