Gretchen Carlson: The Journalist Who Defied Fox News and Exposed Workplace Abuse | E110
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What motivated Gretchen Carlson to file a sexual harassment lawsuit?
Gretchen Carlson, she is a trailblazing journalist, former host of Fox News. In July 2016, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. Dozens of other women also stepped forward.
Fox took away the career that I had killed myself for. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. When I did what I did in 2016, you know, the number one thing my lawyer said to me is, they're gonna kill you. They will do everything in their power to malign you, to call you a liar, to dig up everything in their past life, you know, and make it all a negative. That all happened.
Why do most victims struggle to speak out against harassment?
What happened immediately after I filed the lawsuit was that I started hearing from women all across the world. And they all had the same eerie, similar story, which was, I did what you did, I came forward, I was fired, and I've never worked in my chosen profession ever again, and I was silenced. And I was like, holy crap. And so I rolled up my sleeves, I got to work, because I was like, we have to change the laws. The laws I helped pass are the two biggest labor law changes in the last 100 years. And what they do is...
Today, I have a really, really special episode with Gretchen Carlson. She is a trailblazing journalist, former host of Fox News, CBS. In July 2016, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Fox News chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes. Dozens of other women also stepped forward. It was incredible to see it. She won the case and received a public apology. Gretchen Carlson was one of the first really high publicity cases of the Me Too movement. She then decided to leverage her voice to fight for workers' rights in the workplace by co-founding the nonprofit organization Lift Our Voices. Gretchen, I am so, so, so excited to have you on the show today. I think it's going to be an epic conversation. So thank you. Thank you for having me.
Looking forward to it. Usually we take you back to your childhood and what brought you to this career. But I actually would love for you to take us to the moment when you're in Fox News. I know there's a lot that you can't talk about, but the things are piling up and there's a moment where you decide to literally, you call it, jump off the cliff on your own and file this lawsuit. Can you describe the situation, your workplace, where are you at with this decision? It's one of the hardest decisions in anybody's life.
How important is a support system during tough times?
Yeah, that's why I'm hesitating. But thank you so much for having me because I always say that building up the courage that it takes to do something that monumental is not something that you decide the night before. I mean, it's not like you just suddenly go, hey, I think I'll do this massive change in my life and shake up the whole world about accusing somebody of this. So it really took me many, many years of... enduring bad behavior and at the same time trying to walk a tightrope at work to do the best job that I could and also attempt to also get out. And I can't give all the details of what was going on because I did sign a nondisclosure, which is what I work against now, which we can get into.
But I guess what eventually happened was that Fox took away the career that I had killed myself for. I had reached the pinnacle of television. I was hosting the number one morning show on cable in the country and they fired me and I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. And so at that point, I just finally decided that if I don't do this, who will? And that was really the decision.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What motivated Gretchen Carlson to file a sexual harassment lawsuit?
0:40–1:20
2
Why do most victims struggle to speak out against harassment?
1:20–3:23
3
How important is a support system during tough times?
3:23–5:01
4
What lessons did Gretchen learn from her childhood?
5:01–6:10
5
How did Gretchen Carlson become Miss America?
6:10–8:12
6
What challenges did Gretchen face early in her career?
8:12–10:06
7
How can we create safe and inclusive workplaces?
10:06–12:16
8
What changes has Gretchen made through her advocacy work?
12:16–53:46
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Leap Academy with Ilana Golan
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