Fox News has been in extremely hot water in the last week due to the sexual harassment claims against host Bill O’Reilly. I already gave my take on that yesterday. Now we’ve got new allegations coming from another correspondent, Julie Roginsky. This one’s against Roger Ailes, who as you know had multiple women come out against him. All jokes aside, this guy is starting to become the Bill Cosby of the news world.
The new lawsuit against Ailes was brought by Fox’s Julie Roginsky and is notable because it accuses Fox’s current management of trying to cover up for Ailes. Roginsky said Ailes, who lost his job last summer following sexual-harassment complaints he has denied, suggested she have sex with “older, married, conservative men.” She said Ailes would insist upon a kiss hello at their meetings, requiring her to bend over so he could look down her dress. She was seeking a permanent role on Fox’s show “The Five.” But after an April 2015 meeting at which she turned down Ailes’ advances, he wouldn’t meet with her again, and she never got the regular role, she said.
Let’s talk about all of these lawsuits for a second. At this point I don’t think it’s even a question that Roger Ailes is a dirty old man and that he’s 100% guilty of 99% of the claims against him. But here’s where I’m miffed. Why are all these allegations coming out so much later than when the incidents occurred? My only theory is “fear.” Most of these women probably feared the loss of their jobs, negative publicity, and a downward career spiral if they blew the whistle as the events were occurring.
However, let’s take a look at the flip side. On the flip side you’re now encouraging Ailes to continue his disgusting behavior and put more women’s lives in danger. It’s a slippery slope and I honestly couldn’t say what I’d do if I were in Roginsky’s position but it’s a debate worth talking about. Why aren’t these women coming out to speak sooner? If fear is in fact the answer, then it’s our job as a society to begin educating women at a much younger age to speak out when incidents like this occur.
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