Fox News Chairman Rupert Murdoch appeared to confirm that Kimberly Guilfoyle was fired from Fox News because of "inappropriate behavior," adding weight to previous reports that she was ousted over sexual harassment allegations.
The email from Murdoch was revealed in a trove of private communications between Fox employees that have surfaced as part of Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against the network, East Bay Times reported.
The woman was hired in 2015, just out of college, to work as an assistant for Guilfoyle and another former Fox host, Eric Bolling. According to a dozen well-informed sources familiar with her complaints, the assistant alleged that Guilfoyle, her direct supervisor, subjected her frequently to degrading, abusive, and sexually inappropriate behavior; among other things, she said that she was frequently required to work at Guilfoyle’s New York apartment while the Fox host displayed herself naked, and was shown photographs of the genitalia of men with whom Guilfoyle had had sexual relations. The draft complaint also alleged that Guilfoyle spoke incessantly and luridly about her sex life, and on one occasion demanded a massage of her bare thighs; other times, she said, Guilfoyle told her to submit to a Fox employee’s demands for sexual favors, encouraged her to sleep with wealthy and powerful men, asked her to critique her naked body, demanded that she share a room with her on business trips, required her to sleep over at her apartment, and exposed herself to her, making her feel deeply uncomfortable.
As serious as the draft complaint’s sexual-harassment allegations were, equally disturbing was what the assistant described as a coverup attempt by Guilfoyle, whose conduct was about to come under investigation by a team of outside lawyers. In July, 2016, the network had hired the New York-based law firm Paul, Weiss to investigate sexual misconduct at the company, which, under the leadership of Roger Ailes, had a long history of flagrant harassment and gender discrimination. According to those familiar with the assistant’s draft complaint, during a phone call on August 6, 2017, she alleged that Guilfoyle tried to buy her silence, offering to arrange a payment to her if she agreed to lie to the Paul, Weiss lawyers about her experiences. In the email, sent in the wake of the 2020 election, the 91-year-old media mogul mistakenly refers to her as "Kimberly Strassel," an opinion writer for the Wall Street Journal, but is clearly referring to Guilfoyle calling her "Don jr's girlfriend." Guilfoyle, 54, has been in a relationship with former President Donald Trump's eldest son since 2018.
In 2020, both Huffpost and The New Yorker reported that Guilfoyle, who worked for Fox from 2006 to 2018, was forced out after she faced a sexual harassment accusation from a female assistant.
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