Fox News co-president Bill Shine resigned Monday amid mushrooming sexual harassment scandals at the beleaguered cable news network.
Quoting two network sources, New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman said Shine – promoted to the position after former Fox News chief Roger Ailes was shown the door last year following his own sexual harassment imbroglio – was forced out as Fox slid further into turmoil with new allegations emerging almost daily.
Sherman, who has been the top reporter consistently breaking news about the Fox scandals, reported that Shine was dismissed from Fox on Monday morning, sending the network's newsroom employees into shock:
And there is also speculation longtime Fox News lawyer Dianne Brandi, who signed off on several secret sexual harassment settlements that cost the network 10s of millions of dollars, might soon be out, according to Sherman's sources.
Shine's ouster comes two weeks after Bill O'Reilly, considered the network's most valuable access, was fired.
O'Reilly was cut from Fox after a The New York Times article outlined the 10s of millions of dollars in settlements he and Fox had paid women who accused him of sexual harassment, leading dozens of advertisers to pull their commercials from "The O'Reilly Factor."
Shine was booted from Fox the same day as popular Foxnews.com personality Diana Falzone, joined a growing list of former and current Fox employees who have filed lawsuits against the network.
Falzone's lawsuit alleges she was kept off the air after writing an opinion piece about her bout with endometriosis because network bosses thought it "detracted from her sex appeal and made her less desirable.”
Falzone, who became a Foxnews.com star in 2013 on such shows as "In the Zone" and "Four4Four Entertainment," had to undergo surgery last years when she became ill with the chronic condition in which endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus on other body organs.
Sherman's scoop about Shine's ouster comes after his report last week the Fox honcho's future was on thin ice and he lacked support at the network.
That report triggered Fox personality Sean Hannity to take to Twitter in a frenzied defense of Shine.
"Gabe i pray this is NOT true because if it is, that's the total end of the FNC as we know it. Done. Best Sean," Hannity tweeted.
He also alleged Shine was the victim of an internal Fox News plot, tweeting "Somebody HIGH UP AND INSIDE FNC is trying to get an innocent person fired. And Gabe I KNOW WHO it is."
Last month, former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros stepped up her fight with her ex-employer, claiming in a new lawsuit the cable network targeted both her and Newsmax Media's CEO.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claims Tantaros was a victim of so-called "sock puppet" attacks — a social media harassment campaign — as well as electronic surveillance that mirrored the plot of an episode of the Showtime TV hit espionage series "Homeland."
The suit claims an outside political social media firm called Disruptor, headed by political operative Peter Snyder, was hired by Fox to engage in the sock-puppet smears. "Sock puppet" is an internet term for using an anonymous online identity to manipulate or deceive public opinion.
Tantaros seeks unspecified damages from the company, Fox News' former Chief Executive Officer Roger Ailes and other executives in the lawsuit.
Tantaros had previously sued Fox, claiming she was a victim of sexual harassment by Ailes and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. That case is still in litigation.
Tantaros' new suit also offers evidence Newsmax Media and CEO Christopher Ruddy were also targeted by Fox and Disruptor.