Roger Ailes’ $500,000 Donation to Senior Citizen Center Rejected by 400 Angry Residents

“The name of Roger Ailes is not appropriate or acceptable for a senior center,” local says

roger ailes
Fox News

Former Fox News boss Roger Ailes can’t even give his money away to lawmakers and residents of his New York community that don’t want anything to do with the disgraced TV exec.

Putnam County News and Recorder in the Hudson Valley area of New York reported the Ailes family intended to donate $500,000 for a local senior center, but 400 residents have rejected it by signing a petition objecting to naming the senior center after Ailes.

“Let’s go back to the beginning. We don’t have to accept his money after all,” legislator Dini LoBue said, according to the paper. One women reportedly said, “The name of Roger Ailes is not appropriate or acceptable for a senior center.” He was also called a “carpetbagger” and one woman said he was trying to “buy his way to heaven” during the nearly 4-hour meeting, the paper said.

Ironically, Elizabeth Ailes, wife of the former exec, is the publisher of the Putnam County News and Recorder – so readers shouldn’t exactly expect a “no spin zone” when covering the Fox News founder.

The newspaper wrote Ailes “has been under vicious attack” since Gretchen Carlson filed the sexual harassment lawsuit that essentially ended his tenure atop the network. The story paints Ailes as a victim, writing, “He has not yet been able to speak to defend himself.”

In a statement to the paper, Ailes said, “It is clear for political reasons” his money is not welcomed but he wishes everyone who came out “the very best.”

The News and Recorder quotes his attorney, Susan Estrich, saying there has been a “rush to judgment.” The paper also referred to Estrich as a “nationally prominent expert on women’s issues.”

The paper also notes that a statement Estrich provided that paints Ailes in a positive light has “drawn little attention elsewhere.” Meanwhile, the New York Daily News published a photo on Tuesday of Ailes wearing plaid pajama pants and slippers while drinking a milkshake with his breakfast at a New Jersey diner.

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