News Corp. subsidiary 21st Century Fox will pay $20 million to former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson to settle her sexual harassment case against former network chief Roger Ailes, multiple outlets report. Vanity Fair appears to have broken the story, while New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman has the language of the apology and an interesting nugget about Ailes’ involvement therein:
Ailes was reportedly paid $40 million in his own termination settlement. (Update, 4:20 p.m.: Sherman reports via a Fox executive that Ailes will in fact not have to pay Carlson.)
Here’s another crucial point via VF:
As part of the language at the end of the settlement, numerous people with knowledge of the deal told me, Carlson has agreed not to bring any further legal action against other executives at Fox News, or against the company itself.
Sherman’s recent Ailes exposé asserted that several other Fox News executives were aware of, and may have even abetted, Ailes’ inappropriate behavior with female employees.
Ailes, meanwhile, is reportedly currently advising the Trump campaign. Relatedly, something of a realignment may be taking hold within Fox as news broke Tuesday morning that Ailes- and Trump-friendly host Greta Van Susteren is leaving the network. Sherman has reported that the Murdoch family, which controls News Corp., thought much of the network’s campaign coverage was too pro-Trump, while Trump is reportedly considering launching his own news (“news”) network. In other words, this situation is still developing.
