CNN's Alisyn Camerota says Roger Ailes sexually harassed her at Fox News

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last updated 24 April 2017

CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota revealed on Sunday that during her time at Fox News, she was sexually harassed by the network's former chairman, Roger Ailes.

Camerota spent more than a decade at Fox News, and on CNN's Reliable Sources, she said Ailes' behavior is one of the reasons she jumped ship to CNN in 2014. Ailes was ousted from the network last July after several women, including former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, accused him of sexual harassment; last week, the network parted ways with Bill O'Reilly after he was also accused of sexual harassment and verbal abuse by numerous women.

Camerota said Ailes suggested to her that if she wanted to have more opportunities at the network, they should meet at a hotel. "I had sort of an out-of-body experience, hovering over us in the office and thinking: 'Is this it? Is this the end of my time here? Will I be fired if I don't do this?'" she said. "I knew in my head, at that moment, I'm never going to that hotel under any circumstances, but I didn't know what that meant for me and for my career."

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Camerota said that after she rebuffed his advances, Ailes tried a new tactic, "sort of emotional harassment." He scoffed at her for not "sharing his worldview," she explained, and not being conservative enough. "Sometimes, he would lecture me," Camerota said. "Sometimes, he would insult me." Ailes' attorney, Susan Estrich, told CNN that Camerota's allegations were "unsubstantiated," and her client "vigorously denies this fictional account of her interactions with him and of Fox News editorial policy."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.