News Apr 04, 2017 06:37 PM EDT

Fox News, Ailes slapped with another sexual harassment lawsuit, advertisers pulling out from top-rated show

By April Kirstin Chua

A lawsuit has been filed by a Democratic political consultant and Fox News contributor on Monday stating, among others, that Roger Ailes allegedly denied her of a permanent hosting job after she turned down his sexual advances. This comes as another sexual harassment case for the former Fox News chairman, who was embroiled in a series of lawsuits that allege similar accusations.

Julie Roginsky claims that Ailes encouraged her to date older and married men, praised her looks in an attempt to join him for drinks while leading her to believe that a big promotion would follow. Roginsky turned down his advances and, as a result, never received the promotion to become the host of popular evening program "The Five". She also adds in the lawsuit that the misogynistic culture at Fox News hadn't changed even when Ailes already resigned last year.

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson had filed a separate sexual harassment suit that claimed her contract was not renewed after she ignored Ailes' advances. Another sexual harassment case was also filed last year by former Fox News anchor Andrea Tantaros. Susan Estrich, the legal representative for Ailes, refers Roginsky's claims as a total hogwash.  "This is about someone who wants to pile-on in a massive character assassination in order to achieve what she did not accomplish on the merits," she said in a statement as reported by the Reuters.

If that wasn't enough for Fox News to handle, Roginsky has also accused the network's current president, Bill Shine along with top lawyer Dianne Brandi and other senior executives, who failed to investigate her claims. The current sexual harassment case has also led an advertisers' pull-out from Bill O'Reilly's top-rated show. Large automakers' Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz are withdrawing their ads from "The O'Reilly Factor".

Donna Boland, manager of corporate communications for Mercedes-Benz, cites the importance of women in every aspect of its business as a factor in which the company has decided to pull their ads from the Fox News prime-time show. Hyundai, on the other hand, describes the allegations as disturbing and claims it will only partner with companies that share its values of inclusion and diversity. Advertisers abandoning the show will render difficulties for Fox News in the future as O'Reilly's show provides billions of dollars in revenue every year, according to The New York Times.


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