Female staffers at Fox News are reportedly considering coming forward with a new wave of sexual misconduct revelations after Fox’s owner and acting CEO Rupert Murdoch appeared to dismiss previous allegations involving the network as “nonsense.”
Several Fox News staffers told freelance journalist Yashar Ali that they are considering sharing their own stories out of disgust and anger toward Murdoch’s comments.
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“I have had to put up with a hostile work environment for years, and now I’m told that it doesn’t exist by a man who doesn’t have to walk these halls every day? I’m hungry for justice,” one Fox staffer said.
“Hey Rupert – stop with the lies or we’ll go public with the truth. All of it. Including about the talent and executives you still employ who have harassed us and don’t give a damn about workplace respect – only money,” said another woman who was previously on staff. “How much will it take before you actually start caring about your female employees? Is your 52 billion enough? Are we really going to clean house now?”
The comments from current and former Fox employees come after Murdoch dismissed allegations against former CEO Roger Ailes as “isolated incidents” in an interview with Sky News.
“All nonsense, there was a problem with our chief executive [Ailes], sort of, over the years, isolated incidents. As soon as we investigated it, he was out of the place in hours, well, three or four days. And there’s been nothing else since then,” Murdoch said.
The network fired veteran host Bill O’Reilly after Ailes’s departure after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.
“That was largely political because we’re conservative,” Murdoch continued. “Now of course the liberals are going down the drain — NBC is in deep trouble. CBS, their stars. I mean there are really bad cases and people should be moved aside. There are other things which probably amount to a bit of flirting.”
Murdoch’s comments infuriated many at the network, some of whom are reportedly now considering legal action.
“I’m contacting a lawyer tomorrow,” one current Fox News host said. “I’m sick of this shit.”
The network released a statement on Friday in response to Ali’s story, denying Murdoch was referring to the sexual harassment claims when he used the word “nonsense.”
“Rupert never characterized the sexual harassment matters at FOX News as ‘nonsense,’ ” the spokesman said. “Rather, he responded negatively to the suggestion that sexual harassment issues were an obstacle to the Company’s bid for the rest of Sky.”