Whether or not you think former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson has a strong case against CEO Roger Ailes over alleged sexual harassment, it’s pretty clear the former Miss America has suffered through years of sexist moments at the television news network.
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Earlier this week, Carlson filed a lawsuit against Ailes alleging that he “unlawfully retaliated against Carlson and sabotaged her career because she refused sexual advances and complained about severe, pervasive sexual harassment”.
“Regarding Ailes’ claims that Gretchen’s allegations are false, we challenge him to deny, under oath, that he made the statements attributed to him in the Complaint”, Carlson’s lawyers wrote in a statement released on Facebook. Bloomberg Politics put together a supercut showing all the times Carlson’s Fox & Friends co-hosts-including Doocy-objectified her on screen. The document said Ailes started calling her a “man-hater” after the event.
“Since the complaint was filed, many women have come forward to report similar sexist and harassing behavior by Mr. Ailes”, attorneys for Carlson told Broadly in a statement. She had worked at FNC since 2005. He described yesterday’s move as “a retaliatory suit for the network’s decision not to renew her contract”, adding that the “defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously”.
In a statement, she called the lawsuit “a hard step to take”, but said, “I had to stand up for myself and speak out for all women and the next generation of women in the workplace”.
“She needed a shower anyway”, Kilmeade says before going on to read the headlines. Ratings for her program, “The Real Story”, were lower than for any other show on the network in June, the Nielsen company said.
The 11-year Fox employee was anchoring a 2 p.m. show when she said she was sacked on June 23 at the end of her contract. “His retaliation against Carlson was outside the scope of his authority, employment and agency at Fox News, which has adopted and professes to support anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and anti-retaliation policies”, states the complaint.
Van Susteren didn’t comment on a statement from Carlson’s lawyers, saying at least 10 other women want to talk to them about Ailes. “We didn’t take her name off ‘The Real Story, ‘ the website, social media, etc. – again all in an effort not to harm her. She went and scorched the earth with no warning whatsoever in a vindictive effort to viciously harm Ailes after her contract was not renewed due to the ratings issue”.
Fox has stated that it is conducting an internal review.
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Her studio is in Washington, D.C. but Van Susteren travels to Fox News’ New York headquarters so often that she used to keep an apartment in the city.
