Former Fox New host Kimberly Guilfoyle left the network following an investigation into workplace misconduct, which include allegations that she repeatedly showed coworkers photos of male genitalia and engaged in emotionally abusive behavior, according to a report published Friday by HuffPost.
Guilfoyle’s departure from the network for a pro-Donald Trump PAC (she is also currently dating Donald Trump Jr.) was initially reported last week and framed as her decision. But multiple sources—HuffPost’s Yashar Ali wrote that he spoke with 21 people for the story—told the site that Guilfoyle was in fact told to leave by July following a lengthy investigation into her conduct, which had reportedly involved her lawyers since the spring.
According to the site:
Six sources said Guilfoyle’s behavior included showing personal photographs of male genitalia to colleagues (and identifying whose genitals they were), regularly discussing sexual matters at work and engaging in emotionally abusive behavior toward hair and makeup artists and support staff.
HuffPost also detailed Guilfloyle’s allegedly abusive behavior toward a young woman assistant that she shared with former co-host Eric Bolling, once her ally at the network, who left last September following reporting that he’d sent unsolicited lewd photos to woman colleagues. The assistant:
was deeply unhappy at work and was desperate to get out from under what she described to sources as Guilfoyle’s emotionally abusive behavior and attempts to involve her in her personal sexual matters by regularly sharing details about her sex life. “[Guilfoyle’s assistant] was desperate to get away from Kimberly, she kept on trying to find a way to get a new job or get reassigned within the network,” a source who had spoken to the assistant told HuffPost.
(Guilfoyle’s legal team flatly denied all of the allegations in a statement to HuffPost.)
Guilfoyle also reportedly found herself isolated at the network after Ailes’ ouster. She had been a protege of the late, disgraced network executive, and vocally defended him when allegations of his own sexual misconduct first surfaced in 2016. HuffPost reported that she also made strenuous efforts to drum up support for him behind the scenes. (She was relatively open about this quest, telling reporters that she’d spoken to at least 30 supportive women about Ailes.)
While none of this is particularly difficult to imagine, it must be noted that Fox News’ mammoth PR shop has a penchant for waging war on the network’s enemies by leaking negative stories to the press. (Ali notes multiple times in his HuffPost story that, in addition to speaking with more than 20 sources, the piece was in the works for a year.) The Daily Beast reported this week that Guilfoyle’s ex-coworkers were already hard at work waging “a covert war and hostile whisper campaign.” The site also reported that some of the stories being shopped around involved allegations of misconduct:
Following her exit, four knowledgeable sources say, Guilfoyle’s enemies within Fox have tried to plant negative stories and start whisper campaigns against her, accusing her of workplace misconduct and allegedly abusive behavior toward Fox staff. Some sources still working at Fox have described some of the “oppo” that’s been shopped on Guilfoyle as frivolous, inflated to sound more nefarious than it was—potentially to act as a public pretext for her dismissal.
One thing’s for sure: We haven’t heard the last of this story.
Update, 5:40 p.m. ET: Guilfoyle’s attorney, John Singer, also strongly denied the allegations laid out in the HuffPost piece in a statement to Splinter:
Any accusations of Kimberly engaging in inappropriate work-place conduct are unequivocally baseless and have been viciously made by disgruntled and self-interested employees. During her lengthy and decorated tenure with the company, Kimberly was beloved, well-respected, and supportive of anyone she ever met. It’s utterly preposterous that there are those who are nefariously and greedily twisting innocent conversations amongst close friends into much more than what it actually was for financial gain. Kimberly has happily moved onto the next chapter of her life and hopes others will do the same.