Gretchen Carlson, Roger Ailes
The longtime Fox News host says she rebuffed sexual advances and also suffered gender discrimination from 'Fox & Friends' co-host Steve Doocy. In a statement, Ailes fires back: "This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously."
Gretchen Carlson, a broadcast veteran, claims in a sexual harassment lawsuit that she was let go from Fox News on June 23 as retaliation for rebuffing Roger Ailes' sexual advances.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New Jersey Superior Court, states that her contract expired and that despite working at Fox News for 11 years and being the host of a show that was leading in its afternoon time slot, she was unfairly terminated as the result of events that had occurred much earlier.
According to the complaint, "When Carlson met with Ailes to discuss the discriminatory treatment to which she was being subjected, Ailes stated: '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,' adding that 'sometimes problems are easier to solve' that way. Carlson rebuffed Ailes' sexual demands at that meeting, and nine months later, Ailes ended her career at Fox News."
21st Century Fox released a statement on Wednesday, saying: "The Company has seen the allegations against Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy. We take these matters seriously. While we have full confidence in Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy, who have served the company brilliantly for over two decades, we have commenced an internal review of the matter."
Carlson, who worked at CBS on its Saturday morning show, joined Fox News in 2005. She has interviewed many prominent politicians and celebrities and spent seven-and-a-half years as a co-host on Fox & Friends. Most recently, she's been leading the program The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson.
In 2009, Carlson says she complained to a supervisor that Steve Doocy, one of her co-hosts on Fox & Friends, "had created a hostile work environment by regularly treating her in a sexist and condescending way, including by putting his hand on her and pulling down her arm to shush her during a live telecast."
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