Sexual harassment allegations pile up against Fox News' Roger Ailes

Gretchen Carlson
(Image credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images)

Since news broke of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson against Fox CEO Roger Ailes, six more women have publicly accused the 76-year-old newsman of inappropriate conduct.

The allegations date back to the 1960s. One describes Ailes demanding oral sex from a 16-year-old who appeared on The Mike Douglas Show, for which Ailes then worked as a producer. Another woman recalls being informed, "Word went out you weren't to be hired" after she told Ailes she would not perform sexual favors. Carlson's attorneys say additional women have contacted their firm with similar stories about Ailes.

A statement released on behalf of Ailes and Fox denied all the women's reports. "It has become obvious that Ms. Carlson and her lawyer are desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue," it said. "The latest allegations, all 30 to 50 years old, are false."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.