In a statement released Thursday morning, lawyers for former Fox News Channel host Gretchen Carlson challenged Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes to “deny, under oath, that he made the statements attributed to him” in Carlson’s lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit includes the specific allegation—denied Wednesday by Ailes as “false” and “defamatory”, that in a meeting last September, Ailes said “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better.”
In the statement today, lawyers respond to Ailes saying his claim “that Gretchen Carlson was terminated because of bad ratings is demonstrably false.” The statement adds that “after her firing from Fox & Friends for complaining about discrimination, Gretchen was moved to a challenging time slot and denied support and promotion. Despite this, she succeeded and was the number one cable news show in her time slot in total viewers.” Megyn Kelly had previously occupied the 2 p.m. timeslot, anchoring America Live with from 1-3 p.m., before her move to prime time in 2013.