Fox News CEO steps down two weeks after he is sued for alleged sexual harassment
Roger Ailes. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes is leaving his job two weeks after former anchor Gretchen Carlson claimed in a lawsuit that he fired her and sabotaged her career because she refused to accept his sexual advances.
Rupert Murdoch will become chairman and acting CEO after Ailes’ immediate resignation on Thursday, report the New York Times and CNN Money. The resignation was announced in a press release by parent company 21st Century Fox.
Ailes had denied Carlson’s allegations, saying they were false and offensive.
The network had hired the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an internal investigation. Two anonymous sources briefed on the inquiry told the New York Times in a story published on Wednesday that at least six other women had claimed Ailes engaged in inappropriate behavior. But more than a dozen staffers at Fox News have voiced support for Ailes.
