Pick your metaphor: "open the floodgates," "tip of the iceberg," "scratch the surface."
Of course, we're now learning that since the late 1960's (!) Roger Ailes' penchant for sexual harassment has been the, ahem, elephant in the room.
image by Donkey Hotey.
New York Magazine has published statements by SIX women who say Ailes harassed them while they were either in his employ or seeking employment. Two of the women were willing to speak on the record. The incidents recalled range from 1965 to 1989. None of the women currently work for Fox News.
The details, obviously, are disgusting.
There is a clear pattern with Ailes that while he worked on The Mike Douglas Show he demanded that young women sleep with him as a condition to appear on the show.
At least one of these women was 16 at the time.
Roger Ailes is now maneuvering to prevent anyone from testifying against him.
Ailes is clearly trying to keep these stories out of the press and the courts. Late on Friday, his lawyers filed a motion in federal court in New Jersey seeking to move Carlson’s lawsuit to arbitration, which would prevent witnesses from being called in court. “Plaintiff’s ploy of filing in Superior Court to justify her shameless publicity campaign against Roger Ailes should not be countenanced,” Ailes’s lawyers argued. Carlson's lawyers responded in a statement: "Roger Ailes is trying to force this case into a secret arbitration proceeding...Gretchen never agreed to arbitrate anything with Mr. Ailes.”
Roger, Roger, Roger. As soon as the rest of your victims see that they are not alone, and that their experience with you was commonplace, your situation will get worse very quickly.
And this is far worse in one way than the Bill Cosby situation. Gretchen Carlson's lawyers are clearly looking for a pattern of behavior and victimhood in the employment experience at Fox News. If Fox News winds up being a plaintiff in the case, this could quickly become a class action involving multi-million dollar judgments.
You're also 76 years old, Roger. How 'bout you retire from your job and public life, and see if you can get out without losing your shirt?
