Well it looks like we have an official sex scandal at Fox News, going all the way back to before 2013!
BOSTON GLOBE – Former Fox News Channel anchor Gretchen Carlson sued network chief executive Roger Ailes on Wednesday, claiming she was fired after she refused his sexual advances.
Carlson, the former host of a daytime show at Fox, alleged Ailes had retaliated against her because of complaints she had made about discrimination and harassment. The 11-year Fox employee was anchoring a 2 p.m. show when she said she was fired on June 23 at the end of her contract.
She said her firing came nine months after Ailes told her during a meeting that ‘‘you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago.’’
She alleged in the lawsuit that Ailes, who is 76, ogled her, repeatedly commented about her legs, urged her to wear clothes that enhanced her figure and told her she was sexy but ‘‘too much hard work.’’
Carlson said she was fired as a host of the morning show ‘‘Fox & Friends’’ in 2013, and her pay reduced with the transfer to a daytime slot, because she had complained about sexual harassment.
She said that one of her ‘‘Fox & Friends’’ co-hosts, Steve Doocy, ‘‘had created a hostile work environment by regularly treating her in a sexist and condescending way.’’ She said that when Ailes heard of her complaints, he called her a ‘‘man hater’’ who needed to learn to ‘‘get along with the boys.’’
Carlson said that Ailes punished her by cutting back on political interviews that she conducted and ending a regular appearance she made on Bill O’Reilly’s prime-time program, generally Fox’s highest-rated show.
Well I’m sure this is the kind of press Fox News surely doesn’t want. There may be something to this. Not knowing Gretchen personally, it’s hard to know if she’s too uptight or if she’s reasonable.
I guess we’ll see what happens in court.