Fox News battles suit in local court

Network, Ailes’ estate sued after outing closeted gay man

Fox News Network outed a closeted gay businessman in Maitland because it didn’t want to pursue a reality TV show about estate sales, according to a lawsuit in Orlando federal court.

The businessman, Silas Pierce, 61, is now suing Fox and the estate of the late Fox founder, Roger Ailes, for unspecified damages.

Pierce claims that Fox made his sexual orientation public in court, along with personal information about his non-traditional family, and those revelations ruined his business in estate sales in rural Florida.

“My guy is not a spokesman for GLAAD or Lambda Legal,” said Pierce’s attorney, Ian Northon of Michigan, referring to two nonprofit groups that champion gay rights.

“He’s just trying to run a business and did for decades without anyone knowing about his private life,” he said.

Pierce ran a company called Estate Sales Stars and was tapped by Fox and its production company, Leftfield Productions, to star in the TV show. It was to be the first reality show on the Fox Business Network.

Fox pulled the plug on the show in 2014 after filming several episodes and after two of its stars turned out to have a history that Fox didn’t care for, according to court filings in two lawsuits.

Leftfield sued Fox in New York in 2015, resulting in a settlement. But Fox filed detailed allegations in the lawsuit about Pierce, which became public in media reports. Pierce filed for bankruptcy around the same time the Leftfield litigation started. He is now helping run another estate-sales company.

In its battle with Fox, Leftfield said the network learned about Pierce’s background: “Fox News learned that Silas might be a gay man with a non-traditional family composed of himself and several adult-aged ‘sons.’ Leftfield cautioned Fox News that it was apparent that if he was gay, Silas was not out about it, and that accordingly,