In July, former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, the company’s former CEO. She claimed he fired her after “she complained about a hostile working environment” and refused to sleep with Ailes.
Ailes denied the allegations, but today Fox News settled with Carlson for $20 million. Vanity Fair also reports that the company will “offer Carlson a public apology as part of the settlement.”
From Vanity Fair:
Though Carlson’s case is against Ailes personally, Fox is essentially his insurer for any settlement, according to two people familiar with the arrangement, and discussions between Ailes’s legal team and 21st Century Fox’s legal team became very tense regarding how much Ailes might pay in a settlement. (At press time, it was unclear how much Ailes was personally on the hook for.) As part of the language at the end of the settlement, numerous people with knowledge of the deal told me, Carlson has agreed not to bring any further legal action against other executives at Fox News, or against the company itself.The settlement punctuates an important chapter in the Ailes scandal. While the Paul, Weiss investigation interviewed more than 20 women, according to two sources familiar with the process, it never officially expanded to examine the broader culture of Fox News. The firm, according to numerous people familiar with the process, was apparently never ordered to scour the company’s hard drives for all evidence of sexual harassment or bawdy culture. In some ways, according to one person familiar with the process, the Paul, Weiss investigation simply got a revenue machine back on track.
Carlson said her former Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy made “a hostile work environment by regularly treating her in a sexist and condescending way, including by putting his hand on her and pulling down her arm to shush her during a live broadcast.”
The suit also states that “Doocy yanked Carlson’s arm down to silence her during a live telecast” and even “mocked her during commercial breaks.” She said Doocy “refused to engage with her on the program.”
Ailes allegedly called her a “manhater” and “killer” when he heard about her complaints. In retaliation, the network did not give her lucrative assignments and pulled her weekly appearance on The O’Reilly Factor. They gave her the show “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson,” but she believes lowered her profile at Fox News.
In late August, former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros filed a lawsuit against Fox News for sexual harassment. As Kemberlee reported, she accused “former Fox News CEO, Roger Ailes, Fox News Host Bill O’Reilly, and former Senator Scott Brown of making unwanted advances.” From Buzzfeed:
In the lawsuit, Tantaros’s attorney Judd Burstein describes Fox News as a “a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny” and describes Ailes as a “sexual predator” who “did not act alone.” Tantaros alleges Ailes retaliated against her for rebuffing his advances by removing her from The Five and ordering the Fox News media relations department to turn against her.
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