On Sunday, the New York Daily News published a column about a new sexual harassment lawsuit filed against former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, plus new "sleazy allegations" against Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, under the headline "Moguls could star in 'gropey old men.'" On Monday, the columnist, Dan Kaplan, got a call from Ailes, Kaplan recounts in Tuesday's Daily News. "I was hoping you would be a gentleman and apologize," Ailes reportedly told Kaplan.
"The call from Ailes was a surprise, as the executive — who was reportedly paid $40 million to leave Fox last summer under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations — usually lets his legal team do the talking for him," Kaplan writes, adding that he did not believe it had actually been Ailes on the phone until he confirmed it with the ex-Fox News chief's lawyer. When asked why he had decided to respond to this one column, amid "the mountain of stories about his alleged behavior," Ailes said the article was in front of him and he was "finally annoyed," especially by the headline, Kaplan said. Ailes did not get what he wanted, Kaplan concludes: "I try to be a gentleman, but, sorry, I simply cannot apologize." Read the entire column at the Daily News.
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