Posted on 10/20/2004 1:39:53 PM PDT by truthandlife
Forget the "No Spin Zone"--this battle's turning into Hardball.
The producer who launched a sensational $60 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Channel has filed new charges against the talk-show host and the network, alleging they conspired to fire her "in direct retaliation" for speaking out about his supposed bad behavior.
In an amended complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, 33-year-old Andrea Mackris says she alerted Fox News by Sept. 29 about alleged sexual harassment by O'Reilly while working as an associate producer on his top-rated show, The O'Reilly Factor.
Mackris originally contended the 55-year-old tough-talking TV personality, who's married and has two children, routinely subjected her to sexually explicit phone calls. In her amended complaint, she says that after informing Fox about the hostile work environment and after making repeated requests to O'Reilly to cut out the sex talk, network suits told her to call in sick while they investigated the allegations.
After meeting with Fox attorneys on Oct. 5, Mackris says her job status was never addressed again.
According to the complaint, Fox's "removal" of the producer from her $93,000-a-year position "is in direct retaliation for her complaints of sexual harassment and a sexually hostile work environment at defendants Fox." New York law protects workers from being fired for reporting sexual harassment.
O'Reilly has declined to talk about the suit and has canceled several promotional appearances for his new children's book, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids.
Network lawyer Ronald Green was unavailable for comment Wednesday. But he has previously said, "Ms. Mackris is still employed and on the payroll of Fox News."
He also cited an email she sent to friends stating "I'm no longer at Fox." Green said Mackris removed her belongings from her office without anyone at Fox telling her to do so.
Mackris' new allegations come just days after Fox News asked a New York court to determine whether the producers' allegations were valid so that if the network decided to terminate her, such action would not be deemed retribution for her lawsuit.
On Friday, O'Reilly's accuser told CNN's Anderson Cooper that a man approached her as she was entering her apartment building and tried to serve her with papers, but she refused to take them.
"It is frightening," Mackris told CNN. "They are threatening me. They are trying to intimidate me. Yes, I'm rattled, but I'm really strong."
The showdown is shaping up to be particularly nasty.
The New York Daily News quotes unnamed sources saying that Mackris and Fox News had been hashing out a settlement, but she rejected a $2 million offer to make the allegations go away.
Green denied that assertion, saying he wasn't aware of such an offer while Morelli told the paper, "There were numbers that we talked about, but $2 million was never an offer." Morelli also said the $60 million figure cited in the lawsuit represents how much O'Reilly is worth to the network.
After the settlement talks broke down, O'Reilly and Fox launched a preemptive strike Oct. 13, accusing Mackris and her attorney, Benedict Morelli, of trying to extort $60 million in exchange for dropping the complaint.
Hours later, Mackris struck back with a lengthy court filing documenting O'Reilly's supposed trangressions
Among some of his more gritty talking points (as published on The Smoking Gun), O'Reilly is quoted pestering Mackris about having three-way phone sex with another woman, boasting about his "amazing" endowment and advising her to buy a vibrator. Mackris says she believes O'Reilly masturbated in mid-conversation.
Because of the detail of her extremely graphic account, lawyers for O'Reilly and Fox believe Mackris recorded the conversations and are seeking a court order to obtain copies.
A judge has already issued an injunction preventing Mackris and attorney Morelli from destroying such recordings, if indeed they exist. Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled for Friday in New York State Supreme Court during which Mackris must reveal whether the tapes exist and justify not giving them to the O'Reilly camp.
As a conservative, I say the heck with O'Reilly and whatever he happens to call himself today.
All this because O'Reilly was just looking out for her.
It is interesting because I don't think there are going to be that many people defending O'Reilly and his so called behavior.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
First, the lefties go after Rush.
Now, they go after Bill.
If I was Sean, I'd be watching my back because he is the next logical target.
Then the process server puts down on the subpeona "refused" and judges don`t like that! How do I know? I use to be a process server. Very fun job if you like to get your azz kicked. The best was getting threatened with a gun after I served a guy with divorce papers. I lasted in that job approx. 5 months.
Getting served with legal papers in a lawsuit is intimidation? Good grief...this woman is certifiable...O'Reilly won't have to counter with the nuts and sluts defense, she has already proven herself to be both in accounts I have read.
LOL! I attempted to serve a judge once and he refused to come out of chambers.
Difficult to claim you have been fired when you go to your office and remove your belongings without someone telling you to do that. Difficult to claim you have been fired while the employer is still sending you a paycheck. Of course, to the MSM, FoxNews is gulity because FoxNews is FoxNews.
no doubt about it
In retrospect, it's too bad O'Reilly just didn't call an anonymous 900 phone sex number, rather than Mackris.
It's hard for me not to see this as a setup, as a conscious effort to attack Fox. Liberals are obsessed with Fox, and I think there is no limit to what they would do to try to bring down or embarrass Fox and/or O'Reilly.
Yep. I have a feeling the reason Mackris and her goombah attorney will fight playing the tapes in public is because Mackris will be the aggressor, the instigator, and will have actually enjoyed the attention.
Serves O'Reilly right for being a blowhard and trying to play both sides
pretty embarassing for bor when he has a kids book he's touting and you read this lol
" O'Reilly is quoted pestering Mackris about having three-way phone sex with another woman, boasting about his "amazing" endowment and advising her to buy a vibrator. Mackris says she believes O'Reilly masturbated in mid-conversation "
i don't think bor did anything wrong, we'll have to see but i'm thinking she was into it too for real or to set bor up for a huge payoff
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