21st Century Fox is requesting that ousted Fox News boss Roger Ailes pay for at least part of the impending settlement in Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit, according to Vanity Fair.
The magazine’s deep-dive into the media scandal says Ailes’ lawyers would like the suit to be settled through private arbitration, especially since there now exist audio tapes of multiple women in conversation with Ailes. The tapes would become public if the case were to be litigated in the courts.
Carlson’s suit, filed in July, claims the “Real Story” host refused Ailes’ sexual advances and, “as a direct and proximate result,” her relationship with Fox News was severed nine months later. According to the filing obtained by TheWrap, Carlson’s employment was terminated on June 23, 2016.
Ailes has denied all allegations.
Former “Good Morning America” executive producer Shelley Ross is the latest woman to accuse ex-Fox News boss Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, saying in an op-ed in The Daily Beast that he once told her the best form of loyalty is a “sexual alliance.”
Other women who have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment from Ailes include Laurie Luhn — a former Fox News booker who recently told New York magazine that she endured over 20 years of “psychological torture” and sexual harassment from Ailes — and Fox News’ high profile host Megan Kelly, who reportedly told investigators she was also sexually harassed by her former boss.