Posted on 10/18/2004 1:37:23 AM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 10/18/2004 2:53:02 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
The woman accusing Fox News host Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment wants her life and career back, she told the Daily News yesterday.Fox News officials ordered "The O'Reilly Factor" associate producer Andrea Mackris to stay out of the office as they moved to fire her.
Mackris said yesterday she is determined to stay in journalism even as her life has been upended.
"I love being a journalist. I never expected my life to take this acute left turn," she told The News yesterday.
Mackris, 33, has not set foot in Fox News since she sued the network's star commentator on Wednesday, alleging a string of "vile and degrading" sexual advances.
She said the scandal is an unwelcome detour that has disrupted her life and career.
"Fox told her not to come in," her lawyer David Ratner confirmed. "She hasn't been in since we started meeting with Fox."
Mackris did collect her regular paycheck on Thursday, sources said, but Fox has asked a judge to clear the way for her termination.
"We have asked the court to consider whether the allegations made public by Ms. Mackris are valid," said Fox spokeswoman Irena Briganti. "We have also asked the court to advise Fox News about the possible termination of Ms. Mackris' employment. Ms. Mackris is still employed by and on the payroll of Fox News."
In an explicit lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Mackris claims that O'Reilly subjected her to phone sex against her wishes on three separate occasions in August and September.
She also contends O'Reilly previously told her to use a vibrator "to blow off steam," described his "amazing" endowment and recounted dalliances at a sex show in Thailand.
O'Reilly, 55, a married father of two, has teamed with Fox to file his own suit in Nassau County. He accuses Mackris and her lawyers of a politically motivated scheme to extort $60 million in "blood money."
He called Wednesday "the worst day of my life."
Mackris and her attorneys later updated their suit to charge that O'Reilly's Nassau complaint amounts to illegal retaliation.
"My logic in not going through the quote-unquote proper channels of Fox News' legal and Human Resources departments has been borne out in the retaliatory actions toward me since I came forward," Mackris said yesterday.
O'Reilly's wife, Maureen, meanwhile, kept mum yesterday as she pulled out of the family's Long Island driveway. "This is a private road," she said.
O'Reilly has hired private security to sit in front of his tony Plandome home. "He doesn't want anyone on his property," a silver-haired guard said.
Originally published on October 18, 2004
If she has tapes then he is done
If not then out of court settlement is more likely which is most likely what she wants in first place
And it will send Falafel sales skyrocketing!
Hardly. All she had to do to mitigate her "damages" is hang up.
FYI, O'Reilly WANTS the tapes played, if they exist. It's his contention that they will prove that Mackris instigated the conversation(s) that she is now alleging are harassment.
In addition, her boss at CNN (where she worked between jobs at Fox) was fired for sexual harassment. What does that tell you?
It tells me that she was hoping for a payoff at O'Reilly's expense, didn't want to work for her money, and thought the mere accusation would bring him down or make him pay hush money.
I don't care much for O'Reilly, but I don't think it's gonna work.
"Public figures" like Mr. O'Reilly have even less of a ghost of a chance of winning slander lawsuits. But unless he is photographed with a live girl or dead boy in his bed, I don't see this going anywhere.
However, if you feel a married man having an affair with a subordinate is a respectable thing to do, I am sure Bill Clinton will be relieved.
In other words, if you need to get in touch with Mr. O'Reilly, just give him a call on the, um, telephone. ;-)
I'm not an O'Rielly fan but I would imagine that he would like his life back too. As would his wife and children.
If the co-worker hangs-up the phone you have done nothing wrong!
Listen, smarty-pants, her allegation is that he FORCED her to have phone sex. The last time I checked, phones can be hung up. She never alleged an affair. You MIGHT want to look up the facts.
Ah! So that's why "Irish eyes are smilin'". Knew it was something like that...
That is a false analogy. What you are describing is not phone sex between consensual adults, it is harassment conducted by telephone. The alleged calls in the O'Reilly case were placed during normal working hours.
Got any more red herrings to throw out there?
What was that biblical saying about reaping what you sow?
O'Reilly was a bachelor for his first 46 years – when he married public relations executive Maureen McPhilmy, now 34 – she is vice president of DWJ Television, a company that specializes in producing commercials. He was childless until the birth of his daughter, Madeline, 20 months ago.
In 1995, at forty-six, he married Maureen McPhilmy, who worked for a video-production company. They now have two small children.
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