(CNN)Roger Ailes picked the wrong woman to allegedly sexually harass, hit on and terminate. Gretchen Carlson"s Twitter bio reads: "Journalist, wife, mama, warrior for women, 100% believer in life motto Carpe Diem, author of Getting Real." There"s another word she should add to that list: courageous.
Courage is doing things that are difficult or scary -- and that"s exactly what she did when she sued former Chairman and CEO of Fox News Roger Ailes, claiming that she was fired in retaliation for refusing his sexual advances.
What most people are focusing on in this story is the remarkable, swift and very public turn of events over the past two months:
Carlson"s lawsuit against Ailes was filed on July 6 and in just two weeks, his 20 year career at Fox News was over and settlement talks were underway as an internal investigation was being conducted by the parent company owned by Rupert Murdoch.
On Tuesday, Vanity Fair was the first to report that the former "Fox & Friends" anchor had won a $20 million settlement. According to Vanity Fair, two more Fox employees have also settled with the network for similar allegations. What"s even more unprecedented is the fact that 21st Century Fox issued this statement apologizing for the behavior of its once untouchable Fox News chairman:
And that brings me to the final point. Gretchen Carlson not only had courage, she had something more important: evidence. And it was damning. What"s often missing from sexual harassment cases is evidence. Without evidence, you"ll have trouble being believed in a world where profit is valued over people. I"m sure Erin Brockovich will agree with me on this one.
Is Fox vulnerable to other lawsuits? How could it not be?
Ailes" alleged behavior was not only tolerated, but it also was rewarded, defended and protected year after year until he messed with the wrong woman. That"s all it takes. It just takes one. Just one person to be brave enough to say, "This isn"t right" and to find the courage to do something about it.
Gretchen tweeted Tuesday that she was ready to move on to the next chapter of her life. How amazing would it be if the next move for this Stanford and Oxford-educated, self-proclaimed "warrior for women" would be joining the Clinton campaign as an "adviser."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/opinions/gretchen-carlson-settlement-roger-ailes-robbins/index.html
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