Yet another chapter has been added to the ongoing saga of sexual harassment allegations against Fox News.
21st Century Fox arrived at a settlement of more than $2.5 million with former Fox News contributor Tamara Holder in late February, according to The New York Times. Holder claimed that Francisco Cortes, the former vice president for Fox News Latino, attempted to make her perform oral sex on him in February 2015. She waited until the autumn of 2016 to report her alleged experience to Fox News, citing fear that she would suffer career reprisal as the reason for her delay. Cortes' termination was as a direct result of Holder's report.
Holder and Fox News released a joint statement on Wednesday saying that "immediately after Ms. Holder notified Fox News of the alleged incident, the company promptly investigated the matter and took decisive action, for which Ms. Holder thanks the network."
This account was confirmed by Holder in an email to The Times, in which she wrote "immediately after I told the company where I worked about the incident, it promptly investigated the matter and took action, which I appreciate."
Holder's settlement is just the latest in a series for the network that was exposed last July for having a hostile working environment for women. These include a $20 million settlement with Gretchen Carlson, whose claims against former CEO Roger Ailes resulted in his departure from the network, and Juliet Huddy, who agreed to a deal after making sexual harassment claims against host Bill O'Reilly. Both Ailes and O'Reilly insist they did not commit the alleged sexual misconduct.
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