Summary: Bill O’Reilly is being sued by a woman who accused him of sexual harassment.
Although Bill O’Reilly was ousted from Fox News after reports of the network settling several sexual harassment lawsuits on his behalf broke, the popular conservative pundit is under fire again.
The Wrap reported that former Fox News anchor Laurie Dhue is suing O’Reilly for defamation. After it was revealed that Fox News had paid $1 million to settle one of her sexual harassment claims, O’Reilly said that he had never harassed a colleague, which Dhue viewed as him labeling her as a liar.
Last year, the New York Times ran a story that revealed Fox News and O’Reilly had paid millions to women who had accused O’Reilly of sexual harassment, and Dhue was one of them. She said that O’Reilly launched a “smear campaign” against her after the report came to light, and she is seeking damages.
“O’Reilly published false statements about Dhue — as well as the other women — calling her a liar, swearing that her allegations were fabricated in an effort to obtain a settlement, falsely asserting that her purported claims against O’Reilly were politically motivated, and lying by saying that he only paid settlements to avoid having his family go through litigation, not engaged in the claimed sexual misconduct,” the lawsuit stated.
Dhue filed her lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court. She worked as a Fox News anchor from 2000 t0 2008 and she regularly appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” as a guest speaker. She claimed that O’Reilly had sexually harassed her on set, and Fox News had paid her $1 million to settle her claim.
O’Reilly denied sexually harassing any of his female colleagues, and his attorney Fredric S. Newman said, “Dhue’s filing has absolutely no merit. Mr. O’Reilly has never mentioned Dhue, and any attention she has received has been the result of her own actions. Mr. O’Reilly will defend himself in court fully and aggressively against all unfounded, opportunistic claims, and he will seek all appropriate legal remedies as well.”
Dhue told TMZ that O’Reilly’s claims of innocence brand her as a liar, which is a damaging trait for a journalist. Additionally, she said that her image has also been used alongside O’Reilly’s in online penis enhancement pill ads, and she is upset that her reputation has been tarnished by her association with O’Reilly.
In December, another woman who had accused O’Reilly of sexual harassment filed a similar lawsuit to Dhue’s. Rachel Bernstein, a former junior producer, settled her complaint against O’Reilly in 2002 for an undisclosed amount, and she sued him last year after he proclaimed his innocence.
“In my more than 20 years at Fox News Channel, no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline,” O’Reilly had said last April.
Bernstein said that O’Reilly’s statement was a flat-out lie, that she had reported him numerous times to HR.
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A correction was made on 3/23/18 at 10:45 am to reflect that Bill O’Reilly had also paid sexual harassment settlements.