After the initial allegations of sexual harassment against Roger Fox News head Ailes came out following Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit, some prominent media figures in the company defended Ailes. Conspicuously silent was one of their stars Megyn Kelly and speculation abounded as to why, with one theory being that she wanted to take the high road and not get down into the mud since her contract was due for renewal next year.
Now Gabriel Sherman is reporting that Kelly has in fact told the outside law firm hired by parent company 21st Century Fox to investigate the allegations that she too was sexually harassed by him ten years ago before she became the prominent figure she is now.
There could be more revelations.
Meanwhile, the Paul, Weiss lawyers are attempting to interview former Fox employees who have stories of harassment but haven’t spoken because they signed settlements with Ailes’s Fox attorney, Dianne Brandi. 21st Century Fox is now waiving the NDAs to allow women to speak.
Sherman says that Ailes has been given a deadline of August 1 to resign or be fired.
Ann Coulter also says that she is not surprised by the charges against Ailes.
Coulter has never been employed by Fox News, but has been a familiar face on the network as a fiery commentator. The author said recently that she has heard about allegations against Ailes in the past, even as some of the network’s biggest stars were defending the embattled media executive.
“I noticed the people who’ve been saying ‘he never sexually harassed me’ also, by the way, work for Fox News, which was such a weird coincidence,” Coulter told HuffPost.
Some women working at Fox News recently told HuffPost that they had faced harassment similar to that described by Carlson.
Coulter also took a jab at Kelly who, so far, has publicly been silent on the recent allegations from Carlson and a half dozen other women. Last fall, Kelly described Ailes as a “mentor” who has been “nothing but good to me, and he’s been very loyal and he’s had my back.”
“I guess she waited for him to be out before she spoke up,” Coulter said, adding that it was “very brave of Megyn to wait until the last moment.”
Rodger Ailes leaving Fox on August first would be awesome for me personally. August first is my birthday and that would make one hell of a good present.
The idea that Megyn Kelly was not sexually harassed at Fox News is pretty far-fetched to me.
But she’s quite successful and has basically no incentive to rock the boat especially at this point. Gretchen Carlson only did it on the way out, after all.
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So while explaining how completely useless she’d been to anyone who talked to her about this for years, Ann Coulter takes a detour to blame a victim when they finally came forward publicly. Does she understand what she just said there? What does she actually want to happen? Is every victim supposed to publicly fight their abusers alone at a time most convenient for her? An abuser couldn’t ask for a better ally than this.
It’s not even accurate, because we don’t know the timing of Megyn Kelly’s statements. She gave them to somebody else. It could have been weeks ago. This is just when the comments became public.