Fox News's son of Satan Roger Ailes is being sued by former presenter Gretchen Carlson for sexual harassment
Rundown of the claims in Gretchen Carlson's sexual harassment suit against Roger AilesBy KELSEY SUTTON 07/06/16 04:31 PM EDT
On Wednesday morning, former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a bombshell sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, alleging that he demoted her, reduced her pay and ultimately fired her in retaliation for turning down his sexual advances and complaining about sexual harassment in the workplace.
In the eight-page civil complaint, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Carlson’s attorneys detail the treatment she claims to have been subjected to during the course of her employment with Fox News, which spanned from 2005 to June of 2016. Here are some of the claims made in the suit:
• Ailes would ask Carlson to turn around while in his office so he could view her from behind.
• Ailes also regularly commented on Carlson’s appearance, particularly her legs, and would urge Carlson to wear certain outfits that he thought enhanced Carlson’s figure.
• Ailes told Carlson she was “sexy” but “too much hard work,” and told her, “I’m sure you can do sweet nothings when you want to.”
• Ailes wondered aloud how anyone could be married to Carlson, and said that marriage was “boring,” “hard,” and “not much fun.”
• Ailes told Carlson that if he could choose one person to be stranded with on a desert island, he would choose her.
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Ailes told other people in Carlson’s presence that he had slept with three winners of the Miss America pageant, but not Carlson (who won the Miss America pageant in 1989.) On a separate occasion, as Carlson walked over to greet him, Ailes said that he remained seated when women approached him to they had to “bend over” to speak to him.
• Ailes asked Carlson how she felt about him, and then said, “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
• When Carlson met with Ailes in 2015 over concerns of her treatment at the company,
Ailes told her, “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better … sometimes problems are easier to solve” that way. At the same meeting, he told her that he could make anything happen for her if she listened and “underst[ood]” what he was saying.
The suit also details Carlson’s accusations against former “Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy, though he is not named as a co-defendant in the suit. According to the complaint:
• Doocy made sexist and condescending remarks toward Carlson throughout the length of her stint on “Fox & Friends.” Per the complaint, “Doocy engaged in a pattern and practice of severe and pervasive sexual harassment of Carlson, including, but not limited to, mocking her during commercial breaks, shunning her off air, refusing to engage with her on air, belittling her contributions to the show, and generally attempting to put her in her place by refusing to accept and treat her as an intelligent and insightful female journalist rather than a blond female prop.”
• Carlson complained about Doocy’s behavior in September 2009. In response to Carlson’s complaints about Doocy’s behavior, Ailes told Carlson she was a “man hater” and “killer” and that she needed to learn to “get along with the boys.”
• Ailes told Carlson, in response to her complaints, that she needed to stop worrying about being treated equally and getting “offended so God damn easy about everything.” He also said she acted as though it “only rains on women,” and that she had tried to “show up the boys” on the morning show.
Carlson was removed from “Fox & Friends” in 2013. (Doocy remains a host on “Fox & Friends.”) According to Carlson's attorneys, her contract with the cable network was terminated June 23, 2016.
PoliticoFamily values, eh?
