Roger Ailes Biography Says He Would Donate To Muslim Charities 'If They Disarm'

According to a forthcoming biography of Roger Ailes, the Fox News chief has some problematic views on donating to particular charities.

In the biography Off Camera, author Zev Chafets describes how the Fox News president does not belong to a particular Christian church but donates to a variety of religious institutions. Media Matters obtained an advanced copy of the book and highlighted the following passage. Chafets writes:

[Ailes] donates considerable sums each year to a small Protestant church near his home in Garrison, although he is not on its membership rolls. He donates upward of 10 percent of his net income to charities, many of them religious, including an annual fifty grand to the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and another fifty grand to Catholic charities. He told me he'd be glad to give to Muslim charities, too, 'if they disarm.'

Many believe that Ailes gave access to Chafets as a way to compete with New York Magazine contributing editor Gabe Sherman's book about the Fox News chief and the network. In January, the Washington Post's Erik Wemple reported that web domains relating to Sherman's book on Ailes had already been purchased, but not by the New York Magazine editor.

"Sherman won’t discuss the matter except to confirm that he registered one URL, theloudestvoiceintheroom.com, on Oct. 8 and none of the other domain names associated with his book or Roger Ailes. An inquiry is pending at Random House, the book’s publisher," Wemple wrote.

The Chafets book is out on Tuesday.

(h/t Media Matters)

NOTE: This piece initially said that Ailes commissioned the biography from Chafets. He agreed to give Chafets access, but did not directly commission the book.