Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed suit today against the media giant parent's chief Roger Ailes, saying he fired her for rejecting his sexual advances.
The sexual harassment suit filed in New Jersey state court said Ailes terminated Carlson, a former Miss America who has been with Fox for more than a decade, as a retaliatory act.
Ailes "unlawfully retaliated against Carlson and sabotaged her career because she refused his sexual advances and complained about severe and pervasive sexual harassment," the lawsuit alleges.
Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, where Ailes serves as chairman and chief executive, did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Ailes fired Carlson on June 23 after "ostracizing, marginalizing and shunning her" and making it clear that "these 'problems' would not have existed, and could be solved if she had a sexual relationship with him."
Carlson, who won the Miss America pageant in 1989, joined Fox in 2005 after working at CBS News, and during her career interviewed numerous world leaders including President Barack Obama, former president George W Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair.
For over seven years she hosted the highly rated "Fox & Friends" morning news show.
