According to a report from New York Magazine, Fox News host Andrea Tantaros says she was demoted and then taken off the air entirely after she “complained multiple times to senior Fox executives” in 2015 about Fox CEO Roger Ailes’ “inappropriate sexual behavior toward her.”
The latest revelation comes on the heels of former Fox host Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against Ailes in July, which led to numerous women coming forward with similar stories of harassment. As a result of the ensuing media firestorm, Ailes was forced to resign his CEO position by Rupert Murdoch.
Writing for NY Mag, Gabriel Sherman says that Tantaros’ lawyer claims “both she and her agent told Fox executive vice-president Bill Shine, senior vice-president Suzanne Scott, and general counsel Dianne Brandi about episodes of Ailes’s alleged harassment.”
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that Tantaros’ lawyer said investigators hired by Fox to look into her allegations “have not called her,” suggesting that they’re giving her the run-around.
According to Tantaros’ account, Ailes’ harassment began on August 12, 2014 during a meeting in Ailes’s office, Ailes allegedly asked Tantaros to do “the twirl” so he could look over her body, to which she refused.
Lawyer for Andrea Tantaros says investigators at Paul, Weiss "have not called her." Here's what I just said on @CNNI https://t.co/YcX4pkmhwd
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 8, 2016
In the following December, Ailes made another advance according to Tantaros’ lawyer.
“Ailes asked her to turn around, and then he said, ‘Come over here so I can give you a hug.’” Tantaros again refused.
From NY Mag:
In February 2015, Tantaros was pulled off the 5 p.m. program The Five and demoted to working full-time on the midday show Outnumbered. In February 2015, according to Burstein, Ailes allegedly harassed Tantaros again in his office, asking about her workout routine because her body “looked good” and mentioning that she must “really look good in a bikini.”
On April 30, 2015, Tantaros filed a formal workplace harassment complaint about Ailes to Shine, Burstein says. The following day, Burstein says, Tantaros met with Shine to further discuss her harassment claims. Shine allegedly told her, “Roger is a very powerful man,” and that she “should not fight this.”
Tantaros’ lawyer, Judd Burstein says she is still employed by Fox and knows she is taking a risk in violating her contract’s confidentiality clause. She’s telling her story now, he says, because “she doesn’t have the same fear of being attacked by the Fox PR machine, and the Murdochs have made it clear they want to clean up the place.”
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