Lawsuit: Bill O’Reilly, Roger Ailes and Fox News Execs Online-Harassed Andrea Tantaros
The suit also mentions recently-ousted Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, claiming that he and Ailes were “supported by a cabal of senior executives” in their “highly complex and extremely high-tech” criminal conduct.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Federal Court on Monday, charges the Fox News network, former CEO Roger Ailes, co-president Bill Shine, PR executive Irena Briganti, and social-media consultant Peter Snyder for “digital character assassination” involving hacking and threats.
The lawsuit describes an elaborate campaign against Tantaros, including hacking her personal computer and the creation of “sock puppet” social media accounts used to harass her online — similar criminal behavior “portrayed in a recent episode of the highly popular Showtime Network series, ‘Homeland.'”
“Fox News masquerades as a 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,” the lawsuit stated.
In her lawsuit, Tantaros called her gig at Fox News her “dream job,” but alleged that she was “the victim of demeaning conduct, such as being instructed to wear clothes that showed off her legs, and being required to annually pick on-air clothing in the middle of a room without the benefit of even a curtain, thereby forcing her to strip down in front of Fox News wardrobe personnel.”