Now that Roger Ailes is out at FOX News, folks are coming out of the woodwork to share stories of the man media columnist Michael Wolff calls “the Toscanini of inappropriateness.”
CNN Money reports that three people came to them with the same story about a discussion Ailes had with Politico CEO Fred Ryan:
Ailes told Ryan what he wanted: He wanted fair coverage from Politico; he wanted the website to take stock of Fox News’ successes, not just its controversies; and he wanted Politico to stop taking talking points from “that faggot David Brock.”
Brock is the founder of media watchdog Media Matters.
Often Ailes’ diction is simply coarse, cruel and offensive. He used the N-word when speaking with President Richard Nixon, according to “Nixonland,” a book by historian Rick Perlstein.
Sherman reports that during a post-September 11 lunch with former President Bill Clinton, Ailes suggested rebuilding the World Trade towers and filling “the last ten floors with Muslims so [the terrorists] never do it again.”
He has also used the word “faggot” on several occasions, according to sources, including to describe Brock during the meeting with Ryan — a man who was by no means a friend or close confidant.
“Why am I not surprised?” Brock told CNNMoney when informed of the alleged slur.
After all, it was Brock who noted in his own book, “The Fox Effect,” that Ailes once told President George H. W. Bush he shouldn’t wear a short-sleeve shirt because he’d “look like a f**king faggot.”
