Rupert Murdoch says it's "nonsense" that sexual harassment allegations at Fox News have hurt the business.
In an interview Thursday with Sky News, the 86-year-old 21st Century Fox executive chairman said he doesn't believe the allegations affected investor sentiment.
"It's all nonsense," the media mogul said. "There was a problem with our chief executive . . . isolated incidents," he told Sky News. "As soon as we investigated he was out of the place in hours — well three or four days. And there has been nothing else since then."
The late Fox executive Roger Ailes and former CEO Bill Shine were the target of a lawsuit by a female contributor who claimed Ailes harassed her and that Shine, then the network's co-president, tried to cover up Ailes' misconduct with female coworkers.
Ailes resigned in July 2016 following a lawsuit from former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson over alleged sexual harassment. He later died in May, the same month Shine resigned over the allegations against him.
Fox has seen several other high-profile departures this year over sexual misconduct claims, including "Fox News Specialists" host Eric Bolling in September, and longtime conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly in April.
But Murdoch called the targeting political.
"That was largely political because we are conservative," he told Sky News. "The liberals are going down the drain. NBC is in deep trouble.
"There are really bad cases and people should be moved aside," he told Sky News. "There are other things which probably amount to a bit of flirting."
According to a 21st Century Fox spokesperson, "Rupert never characterized the sexual harassment matters at FOX News as ‘nonsense.’ Rather, he responded negatively to the suggestion that sexual harassment issues were an obstacle to the Company’s bid for the rest of Sky.
"Under Rupert’s leadership and with his total support, the Company exited Roger Ailes, compensated numerous women who were mistreated; trained virtually all of its employees; exited its biggest star; and hired a new head of HR. By his actions, Rupert has made it abundantly clear that he understands that there were real problems at FOX News.
"Rupert values all of the hard-working colleagues at FOX News, and will continue to address these matters to ensure FOX News maintains its commitment to having a work environment based on the values of trust and respect."