Though it has been almost a year since former Fox President Roger Ailes was ousted from the network, the conservative news source that remains mired in controversy is still paying the bills for Ailes.
As it turns out, when dozens of women finally come forward to reveal years of abuse from a high-level Fox executive, the residual effects of that last long after the executive leaves the network.
As a result, 21st Century Fox has paid $10 million for crimes committed by Ailes in the first three months of 2017 alone. All told, Fox has so far shelled out $45 million on Ailes’ behalf to settle some of the more than 20 cases by women against Ailes.
Of course, the bulk of that payout belonged to former “Fox and Friends” co-host Gretchen Carlson who settled her suit for a cool $20 million. Once Carlson stepped forward, dozens of women joined her and painted a brutal picture of the Fox President – a picture which spanned decades of sexual harassment and assaults.
The $45 million Fox has paid on behalf of Ailes’ is magnified by the massive payout the agreed to give Ailes’ as part of the terms of his severance. Though not confirmed, it was rumored that Ailes received as much as $40 million as a parting gift from the network.
Now does not appear to be a convenient time for Fox to be paying so much on behalf of a former employee as they have been forced to fire their most successful anchor, lost many others to the negative culture of the network, are facing a massive racial discrimination lawsuit, saw the resignation of their co-president, faced an unprecedented level of negative press and loss of advertisers, and are now consistently being beaten in ratings by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
In fact, anywhere you look, Fox News is struggling. It’s part of the reason why some are calling for a new conservative outlet to be established.
For now, Fox can likely afford to pay the sexual abuse support of its most odious former employees, but as they do so, remember: rather than protecting the women at Fox and calling out the anti-women culture, Fox is choosing to consistently pay millions to protect its most egregious offenders, even after they no longer are making money for the network.
