AILES DEAD AT 77:
Fox News founder dies year after scandal Never got to spend $40M go-away cash
ROGER AILES, the pugnacious and polarizing Fox News founder who advised Republican Presidents from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump and resigned under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations last year, died Wednesday after a fall at his Florida mansion. He was 77.
His wife, Elizabeth Ailes (photo right with him), confirmed the death, first reported by conservative blogger Matt Drudge.
“I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning,” she said. “Roger was a loving husband to me, to his son Zachary, and a loyal friend to many.”
Medics rushed to his ritzy Palm Beach waterfront address on May 10 and treated him for injuries from a slip and fall, Florida officials said.
Ailes died eight days later from complications of a subdural hematoma he got in the tumble, authorities said.
“Hemophilia contributed to his death, and the manner was accidental,” the Palm Beach medical examiner said in a statement.
Hemophilia is a genetic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to stop bleeding after injury.
Ailes spoke of his condition in the 2013 book “Roger Ailes: Off Camera,” saying it forced him to reckon with his mortality at an early age.
“I’ve been prepared to face death all of my life. As a boy I spent a lot of time in hospitals. My parents had to leave at the end of visiting hours, and I spent a lot of time just lying there in the dark, thinking about the fact that any accident could be dangerous or even fatal,” he said. “I’m at peace. When it comes, I’ll be fine, calm,” he added.
Ailes started Fox News in 1996, with the backing of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, after a career as a Republican political consultant whose clients included former Presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush.
“Everybody at Fox News is shocked and grieved by the death of Roger Ailes,” Murdoch said in a statement. “A brilliant broadcaster, Roger played a huge role in shaping America’s media over the last 30 years.” Murdoch called Ailes a “great patriot who never ceased fighting for his beliefs.” Ailes grew the channel into a behemoth with $2 billion a year in revenue — headlined by toprated anchors such as Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Megyn Kelly. The channel with the slogan “Fair and Balanced” was derided by many for its explicit conservative leanings even as it quickly passed CNN and MSNBC to become No. 1 in cable TV ratings. But his tenure there came crashing down last July when anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the then-76-year-old. A 16-day meltdown ensued. More female employees came out with their own stories about Ailes — including Kelly, who left Fox News in January to work at rival NBC. Ailes submitted
his resignation to Murdoch on July 21, leaving the network he established 20 years earlier.
At first it was reported that he got a $60 million golden parachute — a number later chipped down to $40 million.
Carlson’s lawsuit was the first of several at the network against top-ranking male executives. Less than a year later, O’Reilly would be fired from Fox News after a similar wave of sexual harassment allegations became public.
O’Reilly on Thursday attributed Ailes’s death to the “hatred” he received in the wake of the scandals.
“Roger Ailes experienced that hatred and it killed him. That is the truth,” he wrote in an op-ed published by USA Today.
Ailes found work quickly after leaving Fox, becoming an adviser for longtime friend Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
The GOP influencer helped Trump prepare for his debates against opponent Hillary Clinton, The New York Times reported last August.
His relationship with the candidate waned in the final days of the campaign, however.
Ailes became frustrated by Trump’s inability to focus, New York magazine reported in October.
Fox News figures and even some of his critics paid their respects on Thursday.
“Competed against him in campaigns. Railed against him many times. But appreciated our frank, back-channel conversations,” Democratic strategist David Axelrod tweeted.
Hannity tweeted that Ailes “dramatically and forever changed the political and the media landscape singlehandedly for the better.”
Civil rights lawyer Lisa Bloom urged Fox to take Ailes’ passing as an opportunity to release his accusers from confidentiality clauses.
“Roger Ailes is dead. Now, Fox News, free his victims to tell their stories,” she tweeted.