Fox News has long had a trouble with rampant misogyny. Its own former honcho, Roger Ailes, was ousted over sexual harassment accusations, as was its biggest pre-Tucker Carlson star, Bill O’Reilly. Hollywood even made a movie about it. Did the environment get better there? Possibly not, going by claims made by one of their longtime producers who’s in the midst of suing her employers.
A new New York Times report details the multiple lawsuits filed against Fox News by Abby Grossberg, who’s worked with the likes of Carlson and Mara Bartriromo. Grossberg has accused Fox lawyers of coercing her, in “a coercive and intimidating manner,” into giving misleading testimony in relation to the $1.6 billion lawsuit against them by Dominion Voting Systems. She alleges that they tried to pin the blame on her and Bartiromo most of all, suggesting that she avoid naming male higher-up and on-air talent to protect them while putting her own name at risk.
Then there’s all the open and frank sexism still rampant there. Grossberg says Fox superiors called Bartriomo a “crazy bitch” who was “menopausal.” As for her, when she complained about harassment from two male producers, the lawsuit says, she was told by human resources that she wasn’t doing her as well as she could.
At one point she found herself moved over to its top star:
Last year, she began working as a senior booking producer at “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” On her first full day, according to the lawsuit, Ms. Grossberg discovered that the show’s Manhattan work space was decorated with large pictures of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, then the House speaker, wearing a plunging swimsuit.
The next day, Justin Wells, Mr. Carlson’s top producer, called Ms. Grossberg into his office, she said, to ask whether Ms. Bartiromo was having a sexual relationship with the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy.
Mr. Carlson’s staff joked about Jews and freely deployed a vulgar term for women, according to the complaint.
Later that fall, it said, before an appearance on the show by Tudor Dixon, the Republican candidate for Michigan governor, Mr. Carlson’s staff held a mock debate about whether they would prefer to have sex with Ms. Dixon or her Democratic opponent, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Will any of this horrify Fox News viewers? Probably not, as they don’t seem to mind leaked texts showing Tucker trashing Trump and even Rudy Giuliani’s leaky hair dye.
(Via NYT)