Andrea Mackris
Andrea and her lawyer.
Andrea
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
O'reilly must have been hanging around slick klintoon. Possibly O'reilly dialed one too many 1-900 numbers and got punked. Bush/Cheney 2004
Oh, yeah. For her age, on a scale of 1-10, I'd probably rate her a 3 or 4. Maybe O'Reilly has some sort of thing for 3s and 4s. I watched her interview yesterday on the Today Show. Didn't hear much from her because her lawyer kept cutting in when Lester Holt would ask her a question.
I have to give Lester Holt and Dan Abrams of NBC and msNBC some credit. Holt asked some tough questions of both Mackris and her Democrat hack of an attorney. Then Abrams ripped the lawsuit for including anti-Bush political rhetoric.
LOL. I was trying to tell my mom last night about what BOR was supposedly saying to this woman without getting too much into details. I told her it was so explicit that Bill Clinton might have been a little embarrassed. Okay that's an exaggeration but she got the idea.
[snip]
Her lawyer said, "She really didn't feel she had to do something until she returned from CNN. It started in 2002,...
So when did it start? 2001 or 2002??
One has to wonder whether she is still working for CNN. They can't get ratings, so they go after the top rated Fox personality.
Andrea Mackris
Andrea and her lawyer.
Andrea
"It's the timing of it that smells like last week's fish."
Smells like Soros money.
Seriously, who didn't see something like this coming?
I haven't been to work in two days and will gloat when I get there today. I've been saying for a long time that O'Reill, aka Lonesome Rhodes, would eventually self-destruct over something.
He should have shut up a long time ago.
* The Factor looking out for you or The Factor Lusting after you?
I do not think looks matter-it is over the phone! (LOL)
She's sure got tightly pursed lips. I betcha she wasn't flitting around The Factor in that very conservative turtle neck. In the second and third pictures she looks like she could be a nun.
FWIW, she looks like she's been sucking on a lemon.
His ratings may actually increase. The easily offended don't watch him anyway. I sure don't watch him, he is too irritating.
IMHO, this pretty much tells the tale. The first time you might be a 'victim'. The second time? NOT! If there had been a problem before, then that was the time to deal with it. This reeks of a setup.
That said, if O'reilly did play into that setup, it was just stupid on his part.
"In the second and third pictures she looks like she could be a nun."
The lawyers always dress the female accusers up to look like librarians or - if they're young enough - schoolgirls to promote a sense of violated innocence. It's all part of the PR game.
Yeah, that's what I figured.
Perhaps we now know why Kerry won't appear on his show. This whole thing sounds like a set up to me. But Bill should know better... a LOT better.
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