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The lawsuit comes just months after Fox News agreed to pay $20
million to settle separate allegations of sexual harassment of
female staff at Fox News by Ailes.
The federal discrimination lawsuit filed in New York alleges
that Ailes offered Lidia Curanaj, whose legal name is Lidija
Ujkic, an interview to join the Fox News Network after meeting
her at a dinner in 2011.
After being interviewed in a group setting, Ailes invited her to
a private interview, the complaint said. He then told her it was
"important [for female talent] to look good from head to toe,"
and asked her to stand and turn around for him.
The suit also alleged that Ailes later contacted a man Curanaj
previously dated asking if she would "put out" sexually. The man
told Ailes she likely would not, the suit said, after which she
was turned down for the job.
An attorney for Ailes could not be immediately reached to
comment on the accusations, though he has consistently denied
similar sexual harassment allegations.
Curanaj's lawsuit does not name Ailes or Fox News as a
defendant, but rather alleges gender, age, race and pregnancy
discrimination on the part of her employer, New York Fox TV
station WNYW.
The suit claims that when Curanaj confronted the station's news
director about not being promoted to anchor despite her
journalistic experience and successes, he replied she was "not
attractive enough to be an anchor."
A spokeswoman for Fox TV Stations, a subsidiary of 21st Century
Fox <FOXA.O>, said in an emailed statement, "We do not think the
plaintiff's claims have merit, and we intend to defend
vigorously."
Fox News in September agreed to pay $20 million to settle a
sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former anchor Gretchen
Carlson. A subsequent internal investigation of the company
turned up more than two dozen women who described harassment by
Ailes, according to New York Magazine.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Andrew
Hay)
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