Former Fox Host Gretchen Carlson Speaks Publicly About Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Roger Ailes

For First Time Publicly, Carlson Details Her Treatment By Ailes And Her Former Colleagues

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson spoke publicly for the first time since she filed a sexual harassment/retaliation lawsuit against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, detailing the alleged harassment and recounting her experience working at Fox.

On July 6 reports emerged that Carlson filed a sexual harassment/retaliation lawsuit against Roger Ailes. Following the report, Carlson’s law firm claimed that an additional 10 women contacted them in reference to their  treatment at Fox, and New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman interviewed an additional six women who detailed their claims of inappropriate behavior by Ailes.

Fox News figures have vigorously defended their boss, with Fox’s Howard Kurtz attacking Carlson’s ratings, Sean Hannity going after reporters covering the story, and Fox News reaching out to media outlets offering interviews with women who have worked with Ailes and were willing to defend him.

In a July 12 interview with The New York Times, Carlson reiterated her claims of harassment and spoke of “between six and 10” meetings with Ailes in which she made complaints of harassment and he talked about her body:

In the interview, Ms. Carlson said she complained of harassment as early as 2009, when Steve Doocy, then her co-host on “Fox and Friends,” pulled her arm down while on the air to “quiet” her, Ms. Carlson said.

She said in her complaint, and repeated on Tuesday, that she had several meetings with Mr. Ailes over the years in which her complaints of harassment went nowhere, and that he said demeaning things to her himself.

“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,” Mr. Ailes told her, according to the lawsuit.

Likewise, according to the suit, Mr. Ailes labeled her a “man hater,” and instructed her to “learn to ‘get along with the boys.’”

That sort of language from Mr. Ailes, she said on Tuesday, was “continuous,” adding that she had “between six and 10” meetings with him in which he talked about her body and heard her complaints of harassment.

When asked if there was ever a problem within the Fox News Culture, She said: “Everyone knew how powerful Roger Ailes was. I certainly felt intimidated by that.”

She added, “The culture of ‘Fox and Friends’ was intimidating to me.”