*A longtime executive at Fox News was fired last week after an internal investigation uncovered multiple incidents of racist comments and behavior, TheWrap reports.
Judy Slater, who spent the last 19 years at the network, worked as a comptroller, overseeing payroll and accounts receivable and payable for Fox News and Fox Business.
She was accused of asking one African-American employee if all three of her children were fathered by the same man, according to a source familiar with the matter. She also referred to African American women as “sista” and was accused of mocking several African-American employees for their pronunciation of words like “mother,” “father,” “month” and “ask.” According to an individual familiar with the investigation, she said the employee’s “people” — “blacks” — say “muva,” “fava,” “monf,” and “axe.”
In another instance, she wrote down these words and asked the African-American employees to say them aloud, the individual said.
Slater was also accused of responding to a good-night message from two African-American employees who stopped by her office by raising her hands in a “Hands up, don’t shoot” gesture, a slogan associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, the source said. On another occasion, Slater was also accused of throwing a rolled-up paper ball at one employee’s head.
“We take any complaint of this nature very seriously and took the appropriate action in investigating and firing Ms. Slater within two weeks of this being brought to our attention,” Fox News said in a statement. “There is no place for abhorrent behavior like this at Fox News.”
The employees came forward with their complaints after the network started company-mandated sensitivity training in the wake of last summer’s very public ouster of Fox News founder and CEO Roger Ailes over accusations of sexual harassment by anchor Gretchen Carlson and other female employees.
