This Anchor Says Fox News Is ‘A Sex-Fueled, Playboy Mansion-Like Cult’
Just when we thought we were done with scandals at Fox News, it turns out that another woman who worked there is suing the news organization over allegations of sexual harassment by the former chairman, Roger Ailes.
This time it’s Andrea Tantaros, who was a co-host of the Fox News roundtable program “The Five.” Yesterday, she filed a lawsuit which the New York Times reports contains claims that she was punished by the network for “complaining about harassment by Mr. Ailes.”
The lawsuit claims that first, Andrea was allegedly downgraded to a lower-ranking show called “Outnumbered,” and then in April, she suddenly disappeared from the air all together and hasn’t been seen on TV since.
Fox’s lawyers claim that the reason she was removed from the show was because an autobiographical book she wrote and published this year breached her employment contract, says the New York Times. They say the book was not approved by the network, and that’s the reason she was pulled, and not the sexual harassment allegations.
Also, back in April when Andrea’s allegations first caught attention, the Times claims that Fox’s lawyers used the bullshit claim that the sexual harassment allegations were fabricated in order to “gain leverage in the contract dispute.”
Her lawyer, Judd Burstein, called the book’s breach of contract an excuse for Fox to cover up her allegations and to silence her because many people are implicated in Andrea’s case.
“Ailes did not act alone,” Andrea’s lawsuit says. “He may have been the primary culprit, but his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants, who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation and retaliation.”
Mr. Burstein also told Salon that Ailes first started harassing Andrea in 2014.
“During a meeting with Mr. Ailes in his office, Ailes allegedly asked her to do ‘the twirl’ so he could see her figure. She refused. Then, in mid-December of that year, Ailes made another advance, Burstein says. “Ailes asked her to turn around, and then he said, ‘Come over here so I can give you a hug.’”
But the most startling quote from Andrea Tantaros’ lawsuit alleges that Fox News is just as phony as its dedication to”family values.”
“Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,” the suit reads according to the NY Times.
Ailes was a founder of Fox News and then eventually their chairman, working at the company for over 20 years, until he resigned last month after anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a very similar lawsuit.
Gretchen filed the lawsuit that ended Ailes’s reign at Fox on July 6th, and it claimed that Ailes “decided not to renew her contract after she refused to sleep with him,” according to USAToday.
Of course, Ailes has denied all these allegations thrown at him.
Even though many current employees and anchors voiced their support for Ailes after Gretchen publicly announced the allegations, there are several women backing Andrea up because Andrea and Gretchen aren’t the only ones: the New York Times interviewed at least a dozen other women at Fox who say the same thing was happening to them. The Guardian reports that there are up to 20 women who were harassed.
A reporter who used to work at Fox told the New York Times that Ailes allegedly often made “provocative comments about her appearance, her body and the dresses she wore” behind closed doors where no one could hear him.
She also allegedly told them that every meeting with Ailes began and ended with a hug and a kiss, and it “made her uncomfortable and sometimes prompted her to turn her head to avoid being kissed on the lips.”
Ew.
The company claims that this is not something they support, and their quick actions for damage control to remove Ailes might have proved that.
But a Spokeswoman for 21st Century Fox, Julie Henderson, told the New York Times, “As we’ve made clear, there’s absolutely no room anywhere at our company for behavior that disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment.”
Obviously in an attempt to defend Fox, she even pointed out that in their employee manual there are instructions on how to handle sexual harassment.
But, clearly that’s not enough. Who the fuck actually reads the employee manual, anyway? And it will never be enough for the many women who lost their jobs because they refused a creepy old man’s sexual advances.
