Lachlan and James Murdoch, executives at Fox parent News Corp., have long wanted the conservative Ailes out and have now jumped at the opportunity. According to Carlson, Roger Ailes regularly ogled her, made sexual advances, and purposefully cut her pay in retaliation.
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On Tuesday, the Drudge Report claimed Ailes would be leaving the cable news network and in turn receive at least a $40 million buyout.
“I’ve heard Roger say, ‘I want you to tell everybody to be professional about this, ‘” Estrich said. “The most important thing for Roger is that Fox News continues to be the No. 1 cable network”.
By all accounts, Ailes has been accused of sexually harassing women for decades, well before launching Fox, and that’s becoming more evident by the day as more women come forward. Meanwhile, Ailes’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, denied the allegations, telling the Hollywood Reporter: “Roger has spent the last 10 years helping Megyn Kelly become the star that she is”. But then the company suddenly revoked it, writing: “Fox initially confirmed Drudge’s report to The Daily Beast, and subsequently walked back that confirmation”.
As CEO of Fox News, Ailes has had a hand on the controls for all employees and their careers at Fox News, and Ailes and his supporters have created a “conspiracy of silence”, according to one of the anonymous women.
This year, aided by strong interest in the election, Fox News reported a 37 percent spike in prime-time ratings in the key advertiser demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds.
Roger Ailes has denied all claims of assault since they’ve come out.
Sherman reported on Tuesday that Megyn Kelly, one of the network’s biggest stars, had told the law firm investigating Carlson’s claims for 21st Century Fox that she, too, had been sexually harassed. “The review is ongoing”, the Fox statement said. Six spoke publicly to New York’s Gabriel Sherman, portraying the Fox News chief as “a boss who spoke openly of expecting women to perform sexual favors in exchange for job opportunities”.
The lawyers have been conducting interviews with members of Ailes’ staff at their offices instead of Fox News Channel’s Sixth Ave. headquarters over allegations the offices may have been bugged. Now the only agreement that they have in place with the man is the existing employment agreement between himself and the company.
NY reported that Ailes had received the option of resigning or getting fired this week. He promoted the start-up network as “fair and balanced” – a suggestion that the competition wasn’t – and in time developed a stable of talented and argumentative hosts, such as O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.
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Though a number of current and former Fox staffers have spoken out on Ailes’ behalf over the past two weeks, most are now staying silent about the deepening controversy. He advised Richard Nixon on television strategy ahead of the 1968 presidential contest and later was involved in the campaigns of other Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
