Fox News' Shepard Smith says Roger Ailes was never homophobic toward him

In an interview with the Huffington Post published Monday, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who is gay, disputed claims that former Fox chief Roger Ailes made homophobic comments in front of him.

Smith, who has been with Fox for the network's entire history, doesn't often speak publicly about his sexuality. But in the HuffPo feature, Smith confirmed his sexuality when he refuted claims that Ailes used homophobic slurs in front of him.

Image source: Fox News

"He treated me with respect, just respect," Smith told the Post. "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."

Of the allegations that Alies had prevented Smith from publicly coming out as gay, Smith completely denied them, saying, "That’s not true. He was as nice as he could be to me. I loved him like a father."

But when it came to sexual assault allegations against Ailes, who resigned from the network in July because of them, Smith was visibly upset, according to the HuffPo report: "I trusted him with my career and with ― 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."