Gretchen Carlson demands release from Fox News nondisclosure agreement

Two former Fox News employees who settled sexual harassment claims with the network are seeking to be released from their nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), according to CBS News.

Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky both settled claims alleging Fox founder Roger Ailes had them fired for refusing his sexual advances, and signed NDAs as part of the settlements.

{mosads}Carlson told CBS’s Jericka Duncan that the two are seeking to be released from their NDAs “because I think this is the latest phase in the revolution. We’ve made so much progress over the last three years.”

“The way in which we continue to subjugate women and keep them down is through NDAs and silencing them. It’s really a harasser’s best friend,” she added.

Asked how she would respond to those who noted that she was free not to sign the NDA, Carlson told Duncan: “I say that [settlements involving NDAs are] the way we have decided as a culture to resolve sexual harassment cases and it’s wrong.”

Roginsky added that she did not know what the consequences would be if she broke her NDA.

“The onus shouldn’t be on us to try and find out. The onus should be on the companies to release us. This is not an issue that’s only emblematic of one industry or one political persuasion, its emblematic of an entire culture and a society that tells women that they need to keep quiet … and that has to end,” she told Duncan.

Carlson has previously noted that due to her NDA, she was barred from participating in the development of the upcoming film “Bombshell,” which depicts how allegations by her and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly led to Ailes’s ouster as president of the company in 2016.

NBCUniversal announced the release of employees who claim sexual harassment from their NDAs earlier this week.

“Any former NBC News employee who believes that they cannot disclose their experience with sexual harassment as a result of a confidentiality or non-disparagement provision in their separation agreement should contact NBCUniversal and we will release them from that perceived obligation,” a spokesperson for NBCUniversal said in a statement.

The Hill has reached out to Fox for comment.