O\'Reilly Sues over Extortion Scheme/Accused of Sexual Harassment

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fox News personality Bill O\'Reilly sued one of his associate producers and her lawyer on Wednesday, alleging they threatened him with a high profile sexual harassment case unless he and Fox paid $60 million in "hush money."

The conservative commentator, who is seeking unspecified damages, states his reputation has been damaged and that the scheme has caused him to suffer "great mental strain, anguish and severe emotional distress."

O\'Reilly along with Fox News Network filed the suit in New York State Supreme Court in Nassau County. The network is part of the Fox Entertainment Group which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch\'s News Corp.

Benedict Morelli, the lawyer named as a defendant in the case, did not immediately return phone calls. The associate producer, Andrea Mackris, still works at Fox but could not be reached for comment. Her voice mail recording identified her as an associate producer of "The O\'Reilly Factor."

The suit states that Mackris began working as an associate producer on the program in April 2000. She left for a few months earlier this year to work for CNN but returned to Fox in July.

Although Mackris had never previously complained to anyone in authority at Fox about sexual harassment by O\'Reilly, last month her lawyer began threatening to sue Fox over offensive statements made to her, the suit said.

During a meeting Morelli had with Fox and News Corp representatives, he showed them a draft of the complaint containing lengthy quotes that came from O\'Reilly. The suit charged that the length of the quotes and the "specific verbiage" made it appear that Mackris had taped O\'Reilly.

Morelli demanded $60 million in "hush money to keep quiet," according to the suit.

Fox and O\'Reilly charged in their suit that the defendants\' actions were motivated by greed and Morelli\'s Democratic political connections.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041013/tv_nm/people_oreilly_dc


I seriously doubt politics had anything to do with this story as O\'Reilly and Fox claim, but none the less here it is.  I think greed was the factor in this.  Why threaten when you could go court over this?  This woman still continues to work with O\'Reilly.  if he such a pervert why did she return from CNN?  I think the point this raises is if you are male and successful in this country - regardless of race - some women will try and take it from you with frivilous charges of sexual misconduct.

I can\'t imagine O\'riley doing that, but if he did, oh well.

He is actually a pretty good TV persona, and I don\'t mind listening to his opinion.

I was reading this thinking to myself, "Alright, now how is Giga going to pin this one on the Democrats". I actually choked on some of the water I was drinking when you said you didn\'t think it was politically motivated.

The end is nigh.

And people say I am biased...

And Rush is not a druggie.

UPDATE:

He could quite possibly have done it.  It looks like she recorded some of the freaky talk...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com

Then again why was she recording it and not just hanging up on him?  Setting him up for a lawsuit perhaps?  Either way this is pretty graphic read.  Mystiq don\'t click on the link you aren\'t old enough.

EDIT:  After reading more of it - it is pretty bad - I edited the link to the smoking gun and removed the direct link to the article.

How creepy is it to have your boss call you and talk about porn stars while masturbating? I definately couldn\'t go back to work after that.

This almost makes me want to watch the Factor to see what he says, if anything, about this.

Originally posted by Black Samurai
How creepy is it to have your boss call you and talk about porn stars while masturbating? I definately couldn\'t go back to work after that.

This almost makes me want to watch the Factor to see what he says, if anything, about this.

He did last night.

What did he say?

Just that he had to sue someone for extortion.  He didn\'t go into details, however tonight should be different since this stuff came out.

During the course of Defendant BILL O\'REILLY\'s sexual rant, it became clear that he was using a vibrator on himself, and that he ejaculated. Plaintiff was repulsed.

:eek:



:funny:

That is hilarious!  

I have to ask though - for a guy who is so successful, why would he put himself in that situation?  It\'s one thing to have an affair - quite another to stick a dildo up your ass and have phone sex with a woman who has been rejecting you for quite some time.  

The transcript is full of stuff like that.  

Wow, this is pretty shocking, he wrote a book for kids and is always sounding high-and-mighty about drugs and sex.

I love this stuff.  

I hope the tapes hit the net if they exist.

Bah... they settled with no details.

O\'Reilly Says He\'s Reached Settlement
Thursday, October 28, 2004
 
NEW YORK — FOX News Channel\'s Bill O\'Reilly (search) said Thursday he and a former producer of his talk show have agreed to settle their legal dispute over her allegations of sexual harassment, and his accusations that she was trying to shake him down.

"This brutal ordeal is now officially over, and I will never speak of it again," he said on his talk show, "The O\'Reilly Factor."

Andrea Mackris (search), 33, who was a producer on the show, filed a lawsuit against the top-rated TV host Oct. 13, alleging O\'Reilly made a series of explicit phone calls to her, advised her to use a vibrator and telling her about sexual fantasies involving her.

Earlier that day, O\'Reilly, 55 and married with two children, had filed a lawsuit accusing Mackris and her lawyer of trying to extort $60 million in "hush money" to make the case quietly go away.

O\'Reilly is host of the top-rated prime-time cable news program — and he\'s seen his ratings go up by 30 percent since the case was filed.

He told his viewers Thursday night, "This matter has caused enormous pain, but I had to protect my family, and I did. All I can say to you is please do not believe everything you hear and read."

I told my wife who loves him that I thought he was finished.  Damn.