Posted on 10/15/2004 1:24:14 AM PDT by kattracks
TV host Bill O'Reilly suffered "the worst day of my life" yesterday after being thrust into a sleazy sex scandal - one so explosive, it has forced the talk-show loudmouth into silence."I have been advised to keep my big mouth shut, and I have promised to do that," O'Reilly told the Daily News from his Fox News studio yesterday.
But he didn't.
"This has been the worst day of my life," O'Reilly said. "I am getting hounded by the press, and I knew I would be. I knew that they were going to kill me, but what am I going to do?"
O'Reilly, 55, was accused Wednesday of making "disgusting" phone calls and remarks to Andrea Mackris, 33, an associate producer on the hugely popular Fox show "The O'Reilly Factor."
Hours before Mackris sued him, O'Reilly, a married father of two who lives on Long Island, struck the first blow - filing his own lawsuit claiming that Mackris and her lawyer, Benedict Morelli, tried to extort $60 million from him and Fox News to buy her silence.
And he used the airwaves to tell his 3 million viewers, "These people picked the wrong guy."
But neither Morelli nor Mackris was backing down yesterday.
"This is a man who went on TV and said, 'They don't know what kind of guy they're messing with.' When somebody says something like that, I take it as a threat against me, my family, my client and her family," Morelli said.
He then raised the stakes, suggesting the scandal could destroy O'Reilly's career.
"They have made it personal. When this case is dismissed, not only are they going to be embarrassed, but they are going to see who is left standing. I think this can bring O'Reilly down."
Mackris claimed O'Reilly, a best-selling author and writer, started making sexual comments to her after she split with her fiancé in 2001. The situation worsened after she returned to Fox following a brief stint working for CNN earlier this year, she said.
Closely guarded by her lawyer, Mackris appeared on NBC's "Today" show and ABC's "Good Morning America" yesterday.
"I felt extremely threatened for many reasons," she said.
"There were definitely threats. It crossed the line when I ... came back [to Fox] in July. It went much further than it ever had.
"The language was ratcheted up. He pushed the boundaries further and further from what I had already established. I came back because he agreed to not ever talk to me that way again."
Her lawyer said, "She really didn't feel she had to do something until she returned from CNN. It started in 2002, but when she returned from CNN it started crossing the line, and it wasn't until then she said, 'My God, I have got to do something about it.'"
O'Reilly's alleged remarks included telling Mackris she should use a vibrator and regaling her with tales of threesomes with Swedish stewardesses and stories of his "amazing" endowment.
Mackris claims he made three lewd phone calls to her since August in which he described fantasies involving her and sex acts he would perform on her.
She said he was clearly pleasuring himself as he spoke.
When Mackris pointed out to O'Reilly that he was her boss, she claims he replied, "You just have to suspend that."
O'Reilly characterized Mackris' allegations as "outrageous and I've got to take action. I don't know what [Mackris] is talking about."
Asked what his wife thinks of the accusations, O'Reilly said, "We don't talk about any of this. It's nothing to do with me - it's with the lawyers."
O'Reilly's lawyer, Ronald Green, said Wednesday he intended to file papers demanding that evidence - including possible tape recordings of the alleged sex calls - be made public. He was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Morelli refused to confirm whether he had tape recordings, saying only, "We have concrete and unrefutable evidence that [O'Reilly] did it."
The scandal apparently has had no effect on O'Reilly's syndicated newspaper column, featured in 300 publications, including the Daily News. None had canceled by last night, said the syndicate's president, Rick Newcombe.
And O'Reilly said his program was being broadcast every weeknight as usual.
He also kept the support of many of his neighbors in Plandome, L.I.
Bill Georgas, 42, co-owner of Louie's Manhasset Restaurant, where O'Reilly is a regular, said, "He's always been a gentleman.
"I don't see that man they're talking about in the news."
With Laura Williams
Originally published on October 15, 2004
I'm curious to see how this turns out. The detailed quotes suggest a tape recording, but if they had one, I should think O'Reilly would have tried to settle it. I am no fan of O'Reilly, and I think his monumental egotism could lead him astray, but this sounds pretty bizarre to me. It will be interesting to see what happens....
So, instead of writing up a formal complains, or, heaven forbid HANGING UP THE PHONE, she does to a lawyer and the solution is about $60 Million dollars. I'm truly beginning to hate the way this Country is going. Maybe the great experiment isn't turning out as great as we thought.
Don't know what to believe but until O'Bloviator comes forward and denies it (he hasn't yet) I'll reserve judgment.
That's the point isn't it?
He may very well have said these things, but she hung around too much. This is political, that is the most disgusting of all. I have no use for O'Reilly and don't care if he loses his job, but I do think she set him up. ( Not saying what he did is right, but she should have immediately reported him,and stayed away from him. That she didn't is very telling.)
If HR had any brains whatsoever, they would not have cared about O'Reilly's position in the organisation: their job is to protect the company. And in this instance, protecting the company might have meant asking O'Reilly awkward questions.
Now perhaps HR at Fox is a weakness, that might be true - but just saying "he's so powerful" is pretty lame.
Regards, Ivan
That was my first thought. This is just not about O'Reilly but also Fox News. I'm not jumping on the bash O'Reilly bandwagon. Want to see how this plays out. If he did this then fire his arse. If he didn't then sue the crappola out of this woman and her lawyers.
Wonder what the CNN connection is? She didn't feel it necessary to say anything until after she had been at CNN.
So much of what O'Reilly says about this rings false.
Anderson Cooper did a wonderful interview this evening with Mackris and Morelli. Andrea said a paper-server hid inside her apartment building, then sprang out at her and rammed the legal papers into her chest. Morelli had previously requested the Green legal teams to serve all papers to Andrea at his office. This is a courtesy that most decent lawyers extend to one another.
This was clearly an intimidating tactic. Who's the mob lawyer here? Looks to me like it's Green.
(Gee, is his first name Moe?)
I heard about the Boston station getting ready to pull the plug on O'Randy. Maybe he can get a job with Howard Stern.
Haha! Right--it's all over the phone for the Big Bloviator. He prefers his vibrator to a real woman. What a slug!
Dear lady,
Listen to yourself. How can you say "she hung around too much"? She was his PRODUCER, and as such, partly responsible for his amazing success over the past four years.
Apparently, you don't know much about a TV producer's job. It's not like the pretty little receptionist who makes coffee and runs out to get the newspaper. The producer is the life's blood of programs like The Factor.
She does not have a 9-5 schedule. A producer is ON CALL 24/7, and part of her job is to take calls from her "Star" at all hours. Many of the dinners were set up by O'R as working dinners.
You obviously know very little about the workings of media corporations.
Jenna Jamison spoke truth. She had him pegged.
It's his hypocrisy that irks me.
Thanks for the ping!
BTTT
Yes, I feel sorry for his wife, too, especially now that all this is made public. He's always wanting to protect his wife and kids and now he's put them all in the spotlight. What a worm.
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