Ailes’ stunning departure from the No. 1 cable news outfit he created and built into a $3 billion business comes after the 76-year-old chairman and chief executive was hit with a sexual harassment suit by former anchor Gretchen Carlson less than two weeks ago. The Daily Beast reported that Fox News initially confirmed Drudge’s report before walking back that confirmation.
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Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson has sued Ailes, claiming sexual harassment.
Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News, has been publicly accused of sexually harassing a large number of his female employees.
CNBC also reported that Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, had arranged for Ailes to leave the network that he founded in 1996 with the elder Murdoch.
The lawyers have been conducting interviews with members of Ailes’ staff at their offices rather than in Fox News Channel’s Sixth Ave. headquarters over allegations that the offices may have been bugged. That had given Ailes power in some corporate scrapes he had with Rupert Murdoch’s sons.
Carlson’s lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that 20 women have contacted her law firm with allegations of harassment by Ailes.
The lawsuit filed by Ms Carlson claims she was sacked after refusing his sexual advances.
Kelly is one of Fox highest-profile newscasters and made news a year ago for being co-moderator of the first Republican debate, during which Donald Trump accused her of being biased. Ailes, a former Republican operative and the co-founder of Fox, hired many Republican politicians – Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin among them – as Fox commentators, elevating their profiles between elections.
Earlier on Monday, the company said, “This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded”.
Ailes responded by calling Carlson a “man hater” and “killer”.
It’s hard to imagine the network behaving any worse than it did under Ailes’ tenure, but that’s putting too much faith in Faux News. The Wall Street Journal reports Fox was negotiating Ailes’ exit with his legal team as of Tuesday evening (July 19).
So Ailes leaving Fox would be a seismic development for people who pay attention to the nexis between politics and the media. And their resolution will likely have a greater impact on the Republican Party than anything going down in the convention in Cleveland this week.
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Then on Tuesday morning, Sherman reported that Fox News star Megyn Kelly told internal investigators that Ailes had sexually harassed her in the past.
