UPDATE: Roger Ailes has stepped down as CEO and Rupert Murdoch, owner of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, will step in as the Chairman and CEO. Read more here.
The original story as published is below:
Fox News is in big trouble over sexual abuse and it could cost them some of the their biggest stars, their CEO, and huge dips in ratings.
Roger Ailes has built Fox News and has turned it into the powerhouse that it is today. Fox dominates in all demographics across all cable news, but things could be changing.
It all started when former Miss America and Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit claiming sexual harassment from Ailes. She decided to move forward with the lawsuit when her contract was not renewed.
For a while, it looked like Gretchen was going to be hung out to dry and Ailes would make it through the scandal.
Following Gretchen’s claims, other Fox News women defended Ailes. Sandra Smith, an anchor on Fox said she has “never been instructed on the length of my skirt or the color of my lipstick”.
Harris Faulkner and Martha MacCallum, two rising starts at Fox also defended Ailes and Fox News.
Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, announced that he was conducting an internal investigation into the matter, and it looked like Ailes might be in the clear.
Then Megyn Kelly spoke up.
Megyn said that she had unwanted contact with Ailes and he did harass her as well. The blonde bombshell dropped a bombshell on Ailes and his future at Fox News.
Megyn is easily the next in line to rule the network behind Bill O’Reilly. Bill has been number one for over a decade and Megyn shot to fame this past year with her feud with Donald Trump.
This is where it gets interesting. The top dog, Bill O’Reilly has in his contract that he can leave the network if Roger Ailes leaves. That means that he could get out of his contract and do whatever he wanted.
If that happened, then Megyn Kelly would be the top dog at the network all by herself. Ironically, Megyn’s contract is up and under negotiation.
Whether intentional or not, by her speaking about the sexual harassment of Ailes, it could catapult her to the top of Fox News and the number one anchor in cable news.
The rumor is that Rupert Murdoch likes Ailes, but his two sons want to bring in someone new. Decision time is coming.
Fox News is expected to make a decision after the Republican Convention on whether to keep Ailes or let him go.
If they do let Ailes go, Breitbart is reporting that at least 50 anchors and contributors will leave the network with him to start something new. The list of 50 includes almost everyone, but Megyn Kelly.
Imagine turning on Fox on Monday and not seeing Bill, Sean Hannity, Greta, Shep Smith, Bret Baier, Eric Bolling, Fox and Friends and Geraldo Rivera.
Fox is in a real mess, but what do you think they should do? Let us know in the comments below.
