Roger Ailes, the founder of the Fox News Channel, has officially resigned from the network he helped build amid a growing sexual harassment scandal. Rumors surrounding a possible ouster of the network’s CEO and chairman developed in recent times, even with news breaking this week that Ailes’ position was possibly still safe.
The Washington Post reports:
Roger Ailes, the founder and chief executive of Fox News, has resigned from his position under fire, but will remain with the company until 2018 as a consultant, Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, said Thursday.
Ailes will be replaced temporarily by Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of 21st Century Fox, the company said. The resignation marks the sudden and swift end to the 20-year reign of one of media’s most powerful moguls, a man who micromanaged talent acquistion at Fox, shaped its conservative viewpoint, and turned it into a ratings juggernaut.
Ailes’s job has been in question for the past week or so, amid a budding sexual harassment scandal. The powerful executive was accused of harassment in a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by former network anchor Gretchen Carlson, who said Ailes pressured her for a sexual relationship in exchange for keeping her job as a host of a Fox News program. Since then, other women have come forward with allegations against Ailes, 76, some stretching as far back at the mid-1960s. Ailes has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The major shakeup has a handful of Fox News’ major hosts and personalities showing their support of Ailes and even insinuating that the accusations might be false.
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