Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros is not a ‘victim’ but ‘an opportunist’, the Fox News has said in its response to the sexual-harassment lawsuit she filed last week.
In that response, filed Monday in New York, the network is calling for an arbitration which it says is in accordance with her employment agreement.
The network notes that she is already a party to pending arbitration after having been suspended by Fox, which has accused her of breaching her employment agreement by writing a book without prior authorization by the network.
Tantaros last week sued the network, its ousted chairman and other top executives, claiming they retaliated after she detailed unwanted sexual advances made by her onetime boss, Roger Ailes.
Fox News claims it learned of Tantaros’ book, ‘Tied Up in Knots … How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable’ in March, a few weeks before it was published.
‘This Court should compel Tantaros to proceed in the arbitration proceeding that is already underway,’ Fox News contends.
The network now says her complaint is ‘filled with falsehoods’ and ‘bears all the hallmarks of the ‘wannabe’.
Tantaros, who described Fox in her lawsuit as a ‘sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult,’ said after she complained last spring about Ailes, one of his top deputies, Bill Shine, warned her that Ailes was a ‘very powerful man’ and that she ‘needed to let this one go’.
Shine was promoted to co-president of Fox News after Ailes resigned last month amid sexual harassment complaints by another former anchor, Gretchen Carlson.
She claimed in a lawsuit of her own that she was fired for refusing his sexual advances. He has denied those accusations.
Tantaros, a former panelist on ‘The Five’ who was moved to co-host the lesser-viewed ‘Outnumbered,’ was then pulled off the air a few weeks ago. She claimed that Fox executives used the dispute about her book to try to silence her.
While she claims the network has retaliated against her, ‘she concedes that she has not been terminated and remains on Fox News’ payroll,’ the network says.
Tantaros says she was subjected to ‘demeaning conduct,’ as when Ailes allegedly asked her twice to ‘turn around so I can get a good look at you,’ adding, on one occasion: ‘Come over here so I can give you a hug.’
The former host also says Ailes referred to actress Stacey Dash as ‘the black girl’ during a conversation with Tantaros.
He also talked about other members of the staff, questioning their sexual orientation, calling one of them ‘easy’, another one ‘fat’ and said Carlson was ‘nuts’, the suit states.
During a conversation in February 2015, Ailes told Tantaros that her body ‘looked good’, adding: ‘I bet you look good in a bikini’, according to court papers.
Ailes also asked her why Tantaros’ relationship with a long-term boyfriend, a lawyer, had ended, the lawsuit states.
He expressed a ‘baseless and preposterous view that Tantaros had “used” him to represent her in a lawsuit, and that Tantaros had “dumped” him when he lost the case,’ court papers say.
‘He then told her: “You’re tough. You use men. He didn’t get you what you wanted so you dumped him. Isn’t that what happened?”‘
Bill O’Reilly meanwhile invited her to come with him to Long Island, where it would be ‘very private’, saying he believed she had a ‘wild side’, Tantaros’ lawsuit states.
But when Tantaros complained, network executives retaliated by cutting her air time and planting news stories meant to tarnish her image, her lawsuit claims.
‘[Tantaros] claims now that she too was victimized by Roger Ailes, when, in fact, contrary to her pleading, she never complained of any such conduct in the course of an investigation months ago,’ Fox News said in its rebuttal.
Her attorney Judd Burstein said in a statement to the press: ‘Fox’s right to arbitrate is a legal issue on which I am confident Ms. Tantaros will prevail.
‘But this is the more important question: If Mr. Shine and his minions are innocent, why do they want this dispute to be resolved in the shadows?
‘An innocent person would be so outraged that he or she would want public vindication.’
Burstein also accused the network of dropping Ailes ‘like the proverbial hot potato’ and focusing on the other defendants in the suit instead.
The attorney suggested earlier on Monday that Ailes, Shine and other executives take a lie detector test.
He wrote a list of 12 questions that he would like to hear Ailes answer, such as: ‘Did you ever ask Ms Tantaros to hug you?’ and ‘Did you ever say anything to Ms Tantaros about how she would look in a bikini?’
Other questions that Burnstein would like Ailes to answer include: ‘Did you ever ask Ms. Tantaros to turn around for you?’, ‘Did you ever ask Ms. Tantaros about the reasons why her relationship with a previous boyfriend had ended?’ and ‘Did you ever used the term “the black girl” during a conversation with Ms. Tantaros?’
Burnstein has also challenged Shine, O’Reilly and other executives to a similar lie detector test.
Among the questions he wants Shine to answer are: ‘Did Ms. Tantaros ever complain to you about Roger Ailes sexually harassing her?’ and ‘Did you direct Fox on-air talent not to support Megyn Kelly in connection with questions she had asked Donald Trump at a Republican Presidential debate?’
Burnstein also wants O’Reilly to be asked: ‘Did you ever invite Ms. Tantaros to spend time alone with you at your beach house?’ and ‘Did you ever tell Ms. Tantaros that you believed that she has a “wild side?”‘
‘An innocent person would jump at the chance for this kind of vindication,’ Burnstein said in a statement, ‘and if Ms Tantaros were not telling the truth, she would not risk offering this proposal.’
