UPDATE 4/3/2017: Has Fox News learned nothing? Clearly, they haven’t because the sexual harassment lawsuits just keep coming.
Recently, it was revealed that between Fox News and Bill O’Reilly, a total of $13 million has been paid to settle sexual harassment suits. However, O’Reilly still maintains his innocence — because nothing says “innocent” quite like “let me pay you $13 million to shut you up,” right?
And now there’s yet another lawsuit aimed at Fox News — this time aimed at former President Roger Ailes. The lawsuit, filed by contributor Julie Roginsky, claims that Ailes promised her a promotion if he would have sex with her. Wow, a classic move right there. The promotion would have made Roginsky a regular host on The Five.
According to The New York Times, the network has faced five female accusers (not including Roginsky) who claim that they have been harassed by the company. All five received payouts as of this month.
Bill O’Reilly continues his show with seemingly no repercussions while Roger Ailes was ousted last summer.
O’Reilly is also the co-author of the children’s book, Give Please a Chance.
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1/11/2017: Yes, folks, Fox News has just settled yet another sexual harassment suit — this time against famed host Bill O’Reilly.
In the latest scandal, former Fox employee Juliet Huddy, who had hosted a variety of shows for the network and its affiliates over the years, sued O’Reilly for a variety of unwanted sexual advances. In a letter obtained by The New York Times, Huddy asserts that O’Reilly did the following: called her while masturbating, tried to kiss her, and attempted unwanted physical contact, among other things. Disgusting.
Fox News reportedly gave Huddy millions to settle the lawsuit and keep quiet. Huddy subsequently left her most recent show, Good Day Early Call.
This isn’t even the first time O’Reilly has been sued for sexual harassment this decade. The host was previously sued by one of his producers Andrea Mackris, who stated that he made unwanted sexual advances, lewd comments towards her, and yes, called while masturbating. The case was also settled for millions.
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But O’Reilly is not the only problem at Fox. It turns out the network has cultivated a culture of sexual harassment in the workplace. They recently ousted their chairmen Roger Ailes in July as a result of a very public sexual harassment suit filed by former anchor Gretchen Carlson. In her case, Carlson presented recordings on her phone in which Ailes made sexual comments towards her.
And while it seems that Fox has been able to keep these women quite with money, they still have one more suit that has yet to be resolved: one with TV personality Andrea Tantaros. Tantaros has similarly claimed that she has been harassed by network executives and has already refused a $1 million settlement to drop the suit.
So, is it a coincidence that Fox News has at least four sexual harassment suits within the last year? We think not. Fox claims it has not tolerance for this kind of behavior and yet they allow O’Reilly to remain on the air. We have a feeling Fox’s legal problems are far from over and we hope they get exactly what they deserve.
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