Roger Ailes, the CEO of Fox News who has been accused of sexual harassment, is reportedly on his way out after developments in a related lawsuit case continue to mount. If the chatter is to be believed, Ailes might still be in negotiations for a controlled exit strategy from his current post amid the explosive allegations.
The Daily Beast reports:
What I can say is there’s a lot of talk going on…at Fox with various people involved,” one of Ailes’s attorneys, Susan Estrich, told The Daily Beast in a phone interview. “Roger hasn’t approved anything yet. Roger and Rupert [Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox] will talk. Rupert is due back in town [New York] next week.”
The 76-year-old Ailes—who created the conservative-friendly cable network and turned it into a hugely profitable media powerhouse after several years at NBC and a storied career as a Republican political consultant—is poised to step down in the wake of a sensational lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, filed barely two weeks ago by fired Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Estrich denied a Drudge Report item—later walked back by the conservative-leaning news site—which included what appeared to be a formal term sheet indicating that Ailes is planning to depart Fox News on July 22 with a $40 million “golden parachute.”
Ailes attorney maintains that while there might be term offers floating about, her client has not agreed to any of them. A rep for Murdoch confirmed with CNN that Ailes is still an employee of the company and added nothing about the alleged ouster.
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Photo: By Sgt. Christopher Tobey – http://www.defenseimagery.mil/imageRetrieve.action?guid=5fcd83b3ec55ed09437a49ae13b31dc637c6c1f3&t=2 (original image), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34774615
