Posted on 10/14/2004 5:52:38 PM PDT by TexKat
(KRT) - Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, the nation's top-rated cable news host and a brash advocate of personal responsibility and self-control, was sued for sexual harassment Wednesday, reports The Los Angeles Times, by a producer on his show who says he repeatedly pressured her to engage in phone sex and frightened her with lewd "monologues."
The suit, filed by Andrea Mackris, a 33-year-old associate producer on ``The O'Reilly Factor,'' quotes O'Reilly as speaking to her in highly explicit terms about vibrators, oral sex, masturbation and a fantasy in a Caribbean hotel room shower.
The suit also quotes O'Reilly as threatening "any woman" who would complain about his sexual advances, and as suggesting Fox News chief Roger Ailes would "go after" enemies of the channel.
"Look at Al Franken - one day he's going to get a knock on his door and life as he's known it will change forever," the suit quotes O'Reilly as saying. Franken, a liberal commentator, has been engaged for months in a public feud with O'Reilly. Franken did not respond to calls seeking comment.
The suit names O'Reilly and several other defendants, including Fox's parent News Corp. and Westwood One Inc., the syndicator of O'Reilly's radio show. Before it was made public, O'Reilly and Fox News filed their own claim in New York Supreme Court against Mackris and her attorney, Benedict Morelli, accusing them of trying to extort $60 million from him. "Enough is enough," O'Reilly said in a statement. "I will not give in to extortion."
In their court papers, O'Reilly and Fox News said Mackris' allegations "may ... be motivated by Morelli's political connections to the Democratic Party." Morelli has given to the campaigns of such Democratic candidates as Sen. John F. Kerry and Sen. John Edwards, the suit says. "The extortion scheme is timed to coincide with the upcoming presidential election, to cause maximum disruption and damage to plaintiffs, while at the same time benefiting Fox's major competitor CNN," the papers say.
The scandal comes at a particularly awkward time for O'Reilly and Fox News. The channel has logged record ratings for its coverage of the White House race, routinely beating rival CNN by margins of more than 2-1.
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"O'Reilly's lawyer, Ronald Green, said he believes there are tapes of conversations between the two and asked a court to compel Mackris to produce them so they could be played publicly.
Green said Mackris never complained to anyone at Fox about untoward behavior by O'Reilly, ...."
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?
articleid=48964
"Fox produced an e-mail Mackris sent to a friend last month, saying things are ‘‘wonderful, amazing, fun, creative, invigorating, secure, well-managed, challenging, interesting fun and surrounded by really good, fun people. I'm home and I'll never leave again.''
(Her complaint said that the first time she noticed odd behavior by O'Reilly came in 2002)
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/10/14/national/a05101404_03.txt
The suit also quotes O'Reilly as threatening "any woman" who would complain about his sexual advances, and as suggesting Fox News chief Roger Ailes would "go after" enemies of the channel.
"Look at Al Franken - one day he's going to get a knock on his door and life as he's known it will change forever," the suit quotes O'Reilly as saying. Franken, a liberal commentator, has been engaged for months in a public feud with O'Reilly. Franken did not respond to calls seeking comment.
The tapes, if they exist, will show Mackris to be the aggressor. In addition, Mackris suffered not at all, job wise; in fact, she returned to FOXNEWS at her very high CNN salary.
If this happened away from work (which it apparently did), Mackris will have a very hard time proving sexual harrassment.
I have read some of the alleged conversations and my first thought was why would this woman listen to such a conversation but if MacKris has tapes then how could O'Reilly sue her? I am surprised Dan Rather didn't break this one!!!
The following is what I am appalled at if true.
The suit also quotes O'Reilly as threatening "any woman" who would complain about his sexual advances, and as suggesting Fox News chief Roger Ailes would "go after" enemies of the channel.
O'Reilly called again in April after Mackris' boss at CNN was terminated - for sexual harassment - and suggested they have dinner.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/242016p-207535c.html
I don't think Roger will take too kindly to O'Reilly's description of him as a hitman.
O'Reilly will be O'Gone by the end of the year.
O'Reilly got her back to "keep an eye on her", so to speak, and he should have seen the handwriting on the wall. Instead, he persisted in his boorish and indecent behavior with her.
Are these the actions of a man in full control of his senses? I believe there may be alcohol or drugs involved in O'Reilly's going off the rails.
I had to laugh at the part of Andrea's complaint about one restaurant meeting where O'Reilly's eyes went completely out of focus..."in two different directions"...as he continued his Dirty Old Man line to her.
O'Reilly will be O'Gone by the end of the year.
If Ailes believed the wench, O'Reilly would be gone NOW.
I expect about 10 ...Duh's... to that one.
...........Bill...
..............Bill.
I agree, TexKat. It is O'Reilly's thuggish and frightening behavior at issue here.
He threatened Andrea several times with "showing up" at her apartment. As a single woman who lives alone, she took this as a stalking threat.
Some people here have not read the entire complaint on smokinggun.com, and fail to comprehend the severity of the charges.
"It's not about faith, but works."
A similar verse, "you shall be known by your works."
same thing. "You can talk about how religious you are, but beware thy tongue doth desire to expose itself."
Why did she go back to the scene of this "crime on women". Are there not other news channels she could go to? She doesn't seem to stay any one place to long..
Why does she even have multiple phone conversations with O'Reilly (3 times she alleges he hit on her over the phone alone).
Why is money the answer to make her problem go away?
Wouldn't she be welcomed with open arms on any liberal leaning news outlet for taking on The Factor?
I dunno on this one..will wait and see.
I have no love-hate relationship towards The Factor.
Silly stuff - why is this such an "awkward" time? lol, typical left wing drivel, they WISH this would have some effect and people would defect to the Left Wing Bledia like CNN and Knight Ridder newspapers.
"All hearsay..she said..he said....I put no stock in any of this til I see the facts.."
I'm with you: facts, (especially tapes), might be interesting, but accusations by themselves are not enough.
"I have no love-hate relationship towards The Factor."
I have a yawn-pshaw relationship.
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