Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean has a new book out in which she discusses, among other things, her career at Fox News, where she was sexually harassed by Roger Ailes and her prior career working for Don Imus, who was, to hear her tell it, a much worse horror.
Imus, you may recall, simulcast his radio show on Fox Business Network for a number of years. The simulcast ended in 2015, supposedly because Imus moved to Texas. Ailes, of course, was pushed out of Fox News after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.
Dean openly discussed her experiences with Imus and Ailes on The View today (where Fox News alumnae Abby Huntsman and Meghan McCain are cohosts).
Dean said working for Imus was, “the worst job of my career.” She called him “very abusive to me from Day One.” She said she would cry “on a daily basis.”
Asked for specifics, she mentioned being told not to look at him when he walked into a room. “If he addressed you, then you could address him,” she explained.
She also said that Imus called her “fat” and “stupid.” “I think he was more cruel to women,” she added. When looking through some old posts about Imus, I immediately saw a post in support of that allegation. Imus went on an undeserved rant against Dana Perino shortly before announcing his departure from FBN.
Even worse, Dean said Imus walked around with a gun. “He would take the bullets out of his loaded gun and name them after all of us. And I will have corroboration on this.” She claimed that one time he pointed the gun “right at the head” of a traffic reporter.
Next to Imus, Ailes seemed tame, apparently. Dean said Ailes began sexually harassing her by holding her hand and with suggestive talk on their second interview: “Have you been thinking of me? How do you see me in your life?” and in a later conversation asking, “How are you at phone sex?”
At that point McCain quickly changed the subject.
“I needed to get out” of the Imus job, Dean had told The View ladies. “I would have taken any job.” But she also downplayed Ailes’ behavior as nothing extraordinary. “Look, my whole career, I’ve dealt with some form of harassment, especially in broadcasting.”
At the end of The View interview, Dean changed the subject back to Ailes before closing. “Roger Ailes wasn’t all bad. … He wasn’t Darth Vader. And there are a lot of Roger Ailes, unfortunately, in this business,” she said.
Although it was not mentioned in any of these interviews, Dean sobbed on the air when news broke that Ailes had died. She talked then about how kind he had been to her when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was a poignant moment on Fox, one that added another dimension to Ailes' predations.
But despite Dean's obvious affection for Ailes, neither of the two interviews I saw of Dean on Fox yesterday and today even mentioned Ailes. Ditto Imus.
Watch all three interviews below. First is Dean talking openly about Imus and Ailes on the March 7, 2019 The View; Underneath are her appearances on the March 7, 2019 The Daily Briefing and the March 6, 2019 America’s Newsroom.