Six more women have come forward accusing Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, with the claims dating back decades. Gabe Sherman, author of the unauthorized Ailes biography The Loudest Voice in the Room, chronicles the women’s stories in a story today in New York magazine. Two of them went on the record, while four remained anonymous “for reasons that include shame and fear of retribution,” Sherman wrote.
Not long after the story was published, Ailes’s attorney Barry Asen released this statement:
“It has become obvious that Ms. Carlson and her lawyer are desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue. The latest allegations, all 30 to 50 years old, are false.”
And not long after that statement, Carlson’s attorneys Nancy Erika Smith and Martin Hyman released their own, wondering how Asen can make that claim: “Without any investigation, within 3 hours, [Asen] claimed that the allegations are false. How does he know that?”
“Women have the right to speak out — whether Ailes likes it or not — even about trauma they endured years ago and that haunts them to this day. Calling these women liars because they chose to speak out is despicable. Bullying and threats will not silence these brave women.”
Smith and Hyman added: “We are hearing from others.”
Meanwhile, Fox News host Sean Hannity says he’s done his own canvassing of FNC employees:
Brian talk to the hundreds of woman at Fox that I talked to this week both on air and off. They say it all BS https://t.co/L7JECOMMPD
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) July 9, 2016