The attorneys of Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against CEO Roger Ailes, called Ailes’ claims that Carlson lost her job because of low ratings as “demonstrably false.”
Attorneys Nancy Erika Smith and Martin Hyman said that publicly available ratings show that at the time of her termination, Carlson’s total viewership was up 33%. Carlson was then moved to a different time slot.
“After her firing from Fox and Friends for complaining about discrimination, Gretchen was moved to a challenging time slot and denied support and promotion,” Carlson’s attorneys said in a statement. “Despite this, she succeeded and was the number one cable news show in her time slot in total viewers.”
In her complaint, Carlson said that when she met with Ailes to discuss discriminatory treatment, Ailes said, “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better.”
Smith and Hyman challenged Ailes to deny, under oath, that he made the statements attributed to him in Carlson’s complaint.
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