‘Grab ‘Em By the Pussy’ Rebooted by Fox in Sexual Assault Training Class

In today’s chapter of “You Cannot Be Serious,” 21st Century Fox (the parent company of Fox News) is conducting sexual harassment training, and apparently using the Pussygrab video to do it. Yes, that’s right. The infamous Access Hollywood video of Donald Trump bragging to Billy Bush about how he likes to “grab ‘em by the pussy,” and how he “just start[s] kissing” beautiful women” is being used as a prime example of what not to do.  Well, at least Fox seems to have finally learned what “sexual harassment” actually means.  Too bad they didn’t show that video to Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly a few years ago.

According to what an anonymous source inside Fox training in California told The Hollywood Reporter, the mandated HR training, “went through the scenario of the tape, why it was harassment and why it’s something you should report.”  The employee said that the irony wasn’t lost on the crowd, either:  “there was an audible gasp in the room, like, ‘Can you believe this is happening?”

It’s hilarious enough that Fox is using this tape as an example, after everyone from Sean Hannity to Jeanine Pirro publicly defendant Trump and his “locker room talk.” But in the wake of the news over O’Reilly’s multi-million dollar settlements for sexual harassment, and President Trump’s comments to the New York Times: “I don’t think Bill did anything wrong” – this example transcends funny and goes straight to gross.  In some ways, Fox’s use of the tape underscores what’s really wrong about Trump’s statements about O’Reilly, where he characterized him as “a good person.”  Sure. Trump thinks O’Reilly is “good” in the same way he thinks grabbing women by the pussy is “good.”  Makes sense.

We can’t really blame Fox executives for making the seemingly bizarre decision to use the Trump tape to teach its employees.  The company has had its hands full with O’Reilly’s ad sponsors pulling their money, and the DOJ investigation over Fox’s alleged failure to tell shareholders that it was paying off Roger Ailes’ harassment victims.  But honestly, though.  At this point, Fox and Donald Trump are like a bad episode of a really bad reality show. These two should just stay away from each other – but they just can’t seem to help themselves.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.