Former Fox News founder and CEO Roger Ailes died Thursday morning at the age of 77 after succumbing to a fall suffered days earlier. It was a development that shook the cable news landscape given the figure Ailes was to the platform.
However aside from his concepts, Ailes in many aspects was a dirt bag. Sure plenty of people offered up their condolences and paid their respects to his grieving family which is something that should be done. But mourners playing on some notion that Ailes was a “good guy” or somehow his death erased the shitty things he’s done are sadly mistaken.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not celebrating his passing. In almost every aspect, celebrating someone’s death is wrong. But when it comes to Ailes, I’m not going to celebrate his life either.
Ailes helped create a very toxic culture at Fox News. A culture where sexual harassment could be used by individuals with power as leverage to get what they wanted from female employees looking to climb the corporate ladder. And for his troubles, the former Fox News boss did give up his post at the media giant but with a $40 million dollar severance.
And it wasn’t just his blatant sexism. Ailes was a three-tooled shit head having been accused of bigotry and homophobia including calling rival executive David Zaslav “a little fucking Jew prick” during a 1995 dispute over CNBC projections.
Because of his history, there were plenty who weren’t about to sugar coat his past and pretend he was something he wasn’t.
Roger Ailes has died. Let all his victims now be ungagged for the true, full reckoning of his life. And give them back their jobs.
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) May 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/xeni/status/865189376195559424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftoofab.com%2F2017%2F05%2F18%2Ffox-news-founder-and-ex-ceo-roger-ailes-death-draws-mixed-reactions-from-hollywood-and-media%2F
https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/865189791809363968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftoofab.com%2F2017%2F05%2F18%2Ffox-news-founder-and-ex-ceo-roger-ailes-death-draws-mixed-reactions-from-hollywood-and-media%2F
Thoughts and prayers for the victims of Roger Ailes.
— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) May 18, 2017
Roger Ailes is dead. He just…ran out of power. And importance…
And now…a moment's silence in memory of the many women he harassed…
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) May 18, 2017
Roger Ailes is dead. Women aren't available for comment.
— Lizz "Insufferable Wench" Winstead (@lizzwinstead) May 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/RealBigBalls/status/865191829855195137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftoofab.com%2F2017%2F05%2F18%2Ffox-news-founder-and-ex-ceo-roger-ailes-death-draws-mixed-reactions-from-hollywood-and-media%2F
https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/865197176770764800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftoofab.com%2F2017%2F05%2F18%2Ffox-news-founder-and-ex-ceo-roger-ailes-death-draws-mixed-reactions-from-hollywood-and-media%2F
Roger Ailes has died. Another proud Confederate monument taken down this week. Smdh.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) May 18, 2017
Roger Ailes has died. Wow. Sending deep and heartfelt condolences to everyone who was abused, harassed, exploited, and unjustly fired by him
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) May 18, 2017
Sure, some of these may have been cold when you consider his family. What was also cold are his victims who continue to live out their lives having to deal with what I’m sure was an emotionally scaring and humiliating experience because Ailes needed to get his rocks off.
