More Women Come Forward Accusing Roger Ailes of Sexual Harrasment

More women have come forward accusing Fox News Chief Roger Ailes of sexual harassment ever since longtime Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing Ailes of making unwanted sexual advances toward her and then refusing to renew her contract after she declined the advances.

Since the lawsuit, more than a dozen women have contacted Carlson's New Jersey-based attorney Nancy Erika Smith with the allegations dating back to the 1960s.

“It’s been amazing,” Smith told the Guardian earlier this week. “My website, my email and my office phone have been deluged with women telling similar stories. I’ve only talked to three of them because I’ve been doing other things with regard to this case, but we’ve had clients who’ve come with similar complaints about Ailes and Fox.”

At least six of those women agreed to speak publicly with New York Magazine writer Gabriel Sherman, giving details of their experiences with Ailes. The stories all paint a common picture of Ailes using his position of power to make unwanted sexual advances toward women.

Only two of the women chose to be publicly identified while four others remained anonymous.

A woman who went by the pseudonym Susan said she was 16 when she went over for a walk-on part on The Mike Douglas Show in 1967. As the place was closing down, Ailes took her into his office and locked the door with a key. She recalled Ailes trying to force her into performing oral sex on him.

He chased me around the office and at some point it dawned on him that this just wasn’t going to happen. He finally pulled up his trousers. He was very angry and rushed over to his desk, pulled open a door and had a reel-to-reel tape recorder going. He said to me, ‘Don’t tell anybody about this. I’ve got it all on tape.’ I think he knew I was sixteen.

Another woman hoping to get into broadcasting said Ailes made her model a garter belt and stockings for him during an appointment in 1984.

He was standing there and I put them on. He wanted me to model them for him. After that, something sexual took place, but I blocked it out of my mind. I don’t know if I engaged with him orally or he engaged with himself. I felt I was being used for his sexual satisfaction. I felt very threatened.

Ailes' lawyer Barry Asen issued a response to the New York Magazine article, saying Carlson and her lawyer are "desperately attempting to litigate this in the press because they have no legal case to argue."

Carlson shared the article on Twitter.

>>>Click here to read the full NY Mag article

Images: Roger Ailes by Sgt. Christopher Tobey, Public Domain; Gretchen Carlson, via Facebook