The “sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult”
by digby
Bill O’Reilly famously once settled a massive sexual harassment claim, the details of which made it into the mainstream. It didn’t hurt his career at Fox (and now we know why.) But you would have thought he’d have kept his sexual thoughts about female co-workers to himself after that. Apparently not.
[C]ommencing in February 2016, Bill O’Reilly (“O’Reilly”), whom Tantaros had considered to be a good friend and a person from whom she sought career guidance, started sexually harassing her by, inter alia, (a) asking her to come to stay with him on Long Island where it would be “very private,” and (b) telling her on more than one occasion that he could “see [her] as a wild girl,” and that he believed that she had a “wild side.” Fox News did take one action: plainly because of O’Reilly’s rumored prior sexual harassment issues and in recognition of Tantaros’s complaints, Brandi informed Cane that Tantaros would no longer be appearing on O’Reilly’s Fox News show, The O’Reilly Factor.
That’s from former Fox personality Andrea Tantaros’s sexual harassment complaint against the network. It’s ugly. O’Reilly, of course, is the second big name in her suit. The first is Roger Ailes, of course. She also claims that the new head honcho, Bill Shine was aware and told her to keep her mouth shut.
She describes the place this way:
“Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.”
You know, this is not surprising to most women. It comes through loud and clear to me anyway. I worked in Hollywood for many years and this was … the way it worked. I think many workplaces have changed, particularly as women have ascended into positions of power. Clearly not all, however. In fact, I’d guess it’s still more common than you’d think.
Ailes took it to a twisted level far beyond anything I ever saw, however.
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