Over 20 women have told Gretchen Carlson’s legal team that Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes sexually harassed them, according to The Guardian.
Carlson is suing her former boss for sexual harassment, and her attorneys are conducting confident conversations with other women who have been harassed by Ailes.
The Guardian reported that new accusations go all the way back to the 1960s, when Ailes was a producer on “The Mike Douglas Show.” Carlson spokesperson John Garger told the outlet that “messages are still coming in” and the new accusations are “severe.”
“Gretchen’s legal team started hearing from people with their own stories of harassment almost immediately the day that the lawsuit was filed and first reported on,” Garger told The Guardian.
Garger did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for additional comment.
Ailes has denied all accusations, but all signs point to a split with Fox News occurring in the near future. Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, is conducting an internal investigation and Ailes is negotiating his exit from the company, according to numerous reports.
Carlson’s suit in claims the “Real Story” host refused Ailes’ sexual advances and “as a direct and proximate result” her relationship with Fox News was severed last month.
The court filing alleges Ailes said to Carlson on September 16, 2015: “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.”
Several prominent female employees of Fox News have publicly defended Ailes, but one of the network’s biggest stars, Megyn Kelly, reportedly told lawyers that she was also harassed by Ailes.
Fox News did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.