Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigns amid sexual harassment claim

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,778
454
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Apparently, Faux News is getting an 'internal probe'.


Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigns amid sexual harassment claim

Roger Ailes, who built Fox News into a money-making ratings powerhouse, has resigned as chairman and CEO of the popular U.S. cable channel following allegations of sexual harassment, according to the company.

Rupert Murdoch, 85, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox Inc, the parent of Fox News, will assume the role of chairman and acting CEO of Fox News and Fox Business Network.

The terms of Ailes' exit package were not released.

Susan Estrich, Ailes' lawyer, was not immediately available for comment.

The resignation marks a swift downfall for Ailes, the 76-year-old media executive who advised several U.S. Republican presidents, including George H.W. Bush, and turned Fox News into the most-watched U.S. cable news channel.

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes earlier this month, claiming sexual harassment. Ailes has denied the charges. Fox hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation.

New York magazine followed up with reports of other women who said they had been harassed by Ailes as far back as the 1960s. On Tuesday, the magazine said that popular Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had told investigators hired by Fox that Ailes "made unwanted sexual advances toward her" about 10 years ago.

Ailes, who founded the cable channel in 1996, did not sexually harass Kelly, according to a statement attributed to his lawyer in the New York Times on Tuesday. His lawyers did not respond to questions from Reuters.

The resignation comes as Fox News — known for a lineup of politically conservative commentators including best-selling author Bill O'Reilly — is drawing record viewership. The network is the most-watched channel in all of U.S. basic cable television this year with an average of 2.2 million prime-time viewers, according to Nielsen data through June.

Ailes' long experience as both a television producer and a Republican strategist helped him to formulate a winning strategy: hire charismatic talent to appeal to a conservative audience.

Critics said Ailes pushed a Republican agenda under the oft-repeated slogan "Fair and Balanced." His fans said he smartly recognized that conservative TV viewers were not seeing their viewpoints reflected on Time Warner Inc's CNN or major broadcast networks.

Fox News Channel went on the air in 1996, just before Bill Clinton was elected to a second term, with Ailes as founding CEO.

While Ailes' departure may not come at an ideal time for Fox News, the momentum of record ratings amid the most sensational U.S. presidential election in decades may give the cable network some breathing room to recover, media buyers and Wall Street analysts have told Reuters.

And some of them say this could be an opportunity for Fox News, whose median age of viewers is over 65, to focus on getting younger fans

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes resigns amid sexual harassment claims - Business - CBC News
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
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RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
I'd slap an *** for $65M severence.[/QUOT

iN THE EAST HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SHOT AT A COST OF 35 CENTS MAYBE, THESE INEFFICIENCYS ARE DRAGING THE WEST DOWN.


aNOTHER DEAD ART COLLECTOR, WHO NOTICES?
 

gopher

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 26, 2005
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Minnesota: Gopher State
'Puerto Rican *****’ & Other Things Trump Advisor Roger Ailes Allegedly Called His Fox News Talent






The hits just keep coming for embattled former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, whose reprehensible conduct is being further detailed in a lawsuit by Andrea Tantaros. According to the lawsuit, Ailes not only harassed Tantaros, he also revealed some pretty disgusting attitudes about other Fox News personalities, including some who defended him when these sexual harassment allegations first surfaced.

According to the suit, Ailes called Kimberly Guilfoyle a “Puerto Rican *****,” said that Harris Faulkner “has the tendency to look like the angry black woman,” and repeatedly quizzed Tantaros about the sexual proclivities of Guilfoyle, Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, and Eric Bolling.

Here’s what the suit says about a meeting between Ailes and Tantaros on or about August 12, 2014: a.“Is Greg Gutfeld gay?”; b.“Is Dana a lesbian?”; c.Perhaps Gutfeld and Perino are “sleeping together?”; d.“Are Kimberly and Eric sleeping together?”; e.Guilfoyle is “easy”; f. Shannon Bream’s “voice is annoying.”; g.Referring to Monica Crowley: “If I ever had to go on a date with her, I’d jump out the window.”; h.Referring to Gretchen Carlson: “She’s nuts.”; i.Referring to Catherine Herridge: “She’s a stalker.”; and j. Referring to Maria Bartiromo: “She got so fat.”

Then, in December, the suit alleges Ailes covered much of the same ground in another meeting in his office to test whether Tantaros had become any more receptive to his advances: a.“Is Greg Gutfeld gay?”; b.“Is Dana a lesbian?”; c.“Perhaps Gutfeld and Perino are “sleeping together?”; d.“Are Kimberly and Eric screwing?”; e.Perino “is uptight. You get the feeling that she never lets her hair down, but if she did, she’d be a good time.” f.Kimberly Guilfoyle is a “Puerto Rican *****” and a “Puerto Rican streetfighter”; g.“Harris has to be careful. She has the tendency to look like the angry black woman.”;

http://www.mediaite.com/online/puer...r-ailes-allegedly-called-his-fox-news-talent/
 

tay

Hall of Fame Member
May 20, 2012
11,548
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The guy has family.

Perhaps you should hold your tongue at this time.
He led the way to destroying many innocent people through slander and innuendo without concern for their families.........
 

Musky

Time Out
May 19, 2017
734
0
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He led the way to destroying many innocent people through slander and innuendo without concern for their families.........

Perhaps a few days after someone dies is not the time.

Grow up.
 

Vbeacher

Electoral Member
Sep 9, 2013
651
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Ottawa
The guy has family.

Perhaps you should hold your tongue at this time.

Why? Why is it we should all feel free to call someone a scumbag when they're alive, and then act respectful when they die? And I highly doubt anyone who knew him is reading this.

Ailes is responsible, more than anyone else in modern history, for the divisions wracking America. He formed FOX news not into a conservative media outlet (there are few real conservatives at FOX) but into a rabid far right purveyor of racism, bigotry, intolerance, and extreme conservative social values. He then used its influence to change America's conservative party - the Republicans, into that same image. There are now few conservatives in the Republican Party either, just bombastic loons. He and FOX helped get Bush and Trump into power, and helped make Obama's government ineffectual and make Obama and Clinton hated, loathed and despised by so many on the American right.

FOX news itself is not a racist, fascist organization, and not all its viewers are racists or fascists. But ALL racists and fascists, all militia types, all conspiracy types, use FOX news as their go-to source because much they broadcast reassures them they're right, and almost nothing they broadcast threatens their world view. Studies have shown FOX viewers are actually less aware of what's going on in America and around the world than people who don't even watch news at all. And Ailes holds the blame for that.
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
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Why? Why is it we should all feel free to call someone a scumbag when they're alive, and then act respectful when they die? And I highly doubt anyone who knew him is reading this.
I'm with Vbeacher (never thought I'd hear myself say THAT!). The best thing Roger Ailes ever did for his family, his community, and his country is die.

Ailes is responsible, more than anyone else in modern history, for the divisions wracking America.
To be fair, Lee Atwater was doing his best, but brain cancer got him. Damn shame it wasn't contagious.