On Wednesday morning, legal representation for former host for Fox Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox CEO and chairperson Roger Ailes, according to The Wrap. The lawsuit alleges that Ailes pursued a sexual relationship with Carlson, and retaliated against her when she did not oblige.
The suit claims that Carlson was in fact terminated from her job hosting The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson on Fox in late June because she did not want to have a sexual relationship with Ailes, and that Ailes punished Carlson professionally in other ways, "ostracizing" and "marginalizing" her in various ways:
The suit further claims that when Carlson met with Ailes to discuss the alleged discrimination, Ailes told her the two of them "should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago."
According to the lawsuit, being terminated from The Real Story was not the first time Ailes intervened with Carlson's employment because she rebuffed his advances. Among a litany of alleged maneuvers to diminish Carlson's employment, the suit claims that Ailes assigned "fewer of the hard-hitting political interviews that are covered by political correspondents" and removing her from weekly segments on shows such as The O'Reilly Factor.
The suit also claims that Ailes fired Carlson from Fox & Friends in 2013 as an act of retaliation:
"Like women in every profession, Gretchen Carlson worked hard, did her job well and participated in the world while raising her family. Also like many working women, she was reduced to a sex object by a powerful and sexist boss," one of Carlson's lawyers, Nancy Erika Smith, told Complex by email. "Rebuffing Roger Ailes' sexual demands cost her dearly. She was marginalized and ultimately fired because she sought a harassment and discrimination-free workplace. Gretchen has decided to take a stand, not only for herself but for all women, by declaring that this kind of behavior has got to stop."
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