On Wednesday, a lawsuit filed by Gretchen Carlson, a longtime Fox News anchor, was made public. In it, Carlson alleges that Fox chairman and CEO Roger Ailes fired her after she refused to go along with his sexual advances. According to Carlson’s complaint, Ailes told her they should’ve had a sexual relationship “a long time ago,” told her to “turn around so he could view her posterior,” made comments about her legs, and punished her with a daytime slot and a salary cut when she complained about sexist treatment by male co-workers.
But according to other Fox employees, Carlson wasn’t the only one Ailes harassed. “He asked me to turn around so he can see my ass,” one female Fox News contributor told the Huffington Post. Another described his — ahem — questionable hiring practices:
“He always brags to people about how he doesn’t do polling or testing when he chooses his on-air talent. He told me that if he was thinking of hiring a woman, he’d ask himself if he would fuck her, and if he would, then he’d hire her to be on-camera,” the source said. “He then said if it was a man he’d think about whether he could sit down for a baseball game with him and not get annoyed of him. If he could, then he’d hire him.”
And a third said Ailes told her she could only wear dresses on-air.
“We thought it would happen after [Carlson] was taken off of Fox & Friends,” the source said. “Everyone at Fox knew it was eventually coming. He hated her and would tell people that she was ‘a crazy, vindictive bitch.’”
Ailes has yet to comment on the allegations.
