21st Century Fox Clarifies Rupert Murdoch’s ‘Nonsense’ Remark About Fox News Sexual Harassment

21st Century Fox was put on the defensive Saturday by the backlash to Rupert Murdoch’s remark in an interview suggesting that he viewed the sexual harassment cases that have enveloped Fox News as “nonsense.”

Murdoch made the comment Thursday in an interview with the U.K.’s Sky News about the blockbuster $52.4 billion acquisition agreement that Fox has set with Disney.

Amid growing anger online about what appeared to be the company chairman dismissing the severity of the problems at Fox News, the parent company sought to clarify what the mogul meant. Murdoch called “nonsense” on the suggestion that the Fox News scandals will convince U.K. regulators to bar Fox’s bid to buy up the remaining 61% of Sky that it does not already own, according to Fox.

“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,” a 21st Century Fox spokeswoman said in a statement.

“Under Rupert’s leadership and with his total support, the company exited (Fox News CEO) 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,” she said.

More to come

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