The CEO of conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s website, LifeZette, has made employment difficult for female staffers by constantly referring to his desire for sexual activities, according to a recent story by The Daily Beast.
Citing seven sources that have worked for LifeZette, the Beast on Thursday reported that co-founder and CEO Peter Anthony often makes crude remarks “within earshot of those female staffers.” Anthony runs day-to-day operations for the site.
A former IT staffer told the Beast that he remembers Anthony “talking about other women’s boobs, butts… how he would desire sexual activities with [female colleagues] and stuff like that… All kinds of inappropriate talk about women in the office.”
Six of the seven sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they feared retaliation for speaking out.
Ingraham is in talks with Fox News to host her own talk show on the network, TheWrap confirmed earlier this month. She is an outspoken Trump supporter who has also been rumored to join the president’s administration.
Additionally, sources also told the Beast that Anthony aggressively forced staffers to consume alcohol during happy hour and commented if an employee’s “tits” have gotten larger. The same source claims Anthony said a female colleague “looks like a bitch” and would be “sexier” if she smiled more.
Anthony denied all accusations when reached by the Beast: “The questions you put to me are false… I stand by LifeZette’s record as a company. Since we’ve been in business we’ve never had a single complaint about misconduct, inappropriate behavior, unsafe work environment, or lack of professionalism by any staff. These are things we take very seriously at every level. We treat our employees both current and former with the utmost respect.”
Former senior editor Joseph Curl defended LifeZette, emailing the following statement to the Beast: “So, Houston is under water, North Korea’s firing missiles over Japan, the cost of health care has tripled under Obamacare, and you’re writing about — LifeZette happy hours? No wonder so many Americans despise the media. Your ‘story’ is less than fake news–it’s utter bullshit.”
LifeZette did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. Ingraham did not immediately respond to a separate request for comment.