After years of broadcasting on the most popular cable-news channel in the nation, Shepard Smith of the Fox News Channel is now reportedly revealing that he is homosexual, joining the likes of other “gay” journalists who have come out of the closet, including Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon of CNN as well as Rachel Maddow of MSNBC.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Smith went public with his homosexuality and defended former network CEO Roger Ailes’ treatment of him, saying Ailes never made homophobic remarks in his presence.
“He treated me with respect, just respect,” Smith said. “I wasn’t new in the business when I came here – I’d been doing reporting for 12 years – but I wasn’t old in it either, and he gave me every opportunity in the world and he never asked anything of me but that we get it right, try to get it right every day. It was a very warm and loving and comfortable place.”
Ailes himself stepped down from Fox News in July in the wake of sexual harassment claims against him by former host Gretchen Carlson.
Smith defended Ailes from claims the news boss had stopped him from coming out publicly during his tenure at Fox.
“That’s not true. He was as nice as he could be to me. I loved him like a father,” said Smith, 52.
“I trusted him with my career and with years – I trusted him and trusts were betrayed. People outside this company can’t know [how painful that betrayal was]. This place has its enemies, but inside, it was very personal, and very scarring and horrifying.”
Smith is the anchor of “Shepard Smith Reporting” on weekday afternoons, and is the managing editor of the network’s breaking-news division.
