Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson and contributor Julie Roginsky said they want their former network to release them from non-disclosure agreements they signed.
“I think this is the latest phase in the revolution. We’ve made so much progress over the last three years,” Carlson said in a CBS News interview which aired Wednesday.
Carlson left the network in 2016 after suing them over an accusation that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes sexually harassed her.
Roginsky, 46, was a regular commentator on the show until 2017 when she also accused Ailes of sexual harassment saying he would not give her a permanent spot on The Five because she refused to have sex with him.
“We want to speak for ourselves. We had a voice for a very long time,” Roginsky said in the interview.
Carlson said NDAs were a way “we continue to subjugate women” and silence them.
“I want to do it for the thousands of women in our country who maybe don’t have the national platform to speak out,” Carlson said.
Both women could face serious consequences if they break their silence without being released from the NDAs first. “I don’t want to find out,” Roginsky said about the potential fallout if that occurred. “The onus shouldn’t be on us to try to find out. The onus should be on the companies to release us.”
The interview comes two months before the movie Bombshell is set to be released, which will be a portrayal of the alleged sexual harassment at Fox News and the women’s response to it.
Several former Fox News staffers broke their NDAs in order to talk to the creators of the film.
