Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Fired Gretchen Carlson Because She Wouldn’t Bang Him
So, it appears Roger Ailes looks at his bevy of buxom blondes at Fox News as more than just eye candy — he thinks of them as his own personal harem.
At least that is what we are hearing from recently fired Gretchen Carlson. The longtime Fox employee, who served as co-host of morning staple Fox & Friends from 2005 to 2013 until receiving her own afternoon program, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit with the Superior Court of New Jersey this week after it was revealed she had been fired by Ailes and the network.
The suit alleges that Ailes engaged in a sustained pattern of sexist behavior with Carlson and other female employees that culminated in the Fox chief propositioning her to sleep with him. The request for sex came during a September meeting last year that Carlson asked for to discuss discriminatory practices in the newsroom. Instead of taking her complaints seriously, Ailes felt the whole thing could be resolved if she jumped his bones.
Wow. Gretchen Carlson files sexual harassment suit against Fox News chief Roger Ailes. pic.twitter.com/OIdSd3Xk5f
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) July 6, 2016
After refusing his advances, the ex-Miss America states that she was subjected to harsher treatment and retaliation that eventually led to her contract not being renewed in June. She was officially terminated on June 23rd, though this wasn’t publicly acknowledged until Wednesday. Guest hosts have been filling in for her since then.
While the suit is only against Ailes and not the network, she also aims her arrows at former Fox & Friends colleague Steve Doocy. She noted that he made her time on that show very difficult as he constantly made sexually charged comments to her, casually dismissed her on air and generally made her feel inferior to “the boys.” It has also been noted that during her time hosting F&F, she was not allowed to wear pants at all, with Ailes specifically requesting all of his women on-air personalities to wear short skirts.
Perhaps knowing that she was due to be off the air before the end of June, Carlson made a shocking plea last month during an editorial segment. Going fully against Fox News orthodoxy, she called for a ban on assault-type weapons in the wake of the Orlando shootings. While notable at the time due to a Fox host railing against the NRA, in hindsight, it also appears as a big ‘FUCK YOU’ to Ailes and company.
While I sympathize with her and hope she receives adequate redress, we should bear in mind that she made a career out of being an exponent of the system and ethic that sustains the environment in which she was forced to endure.