Harassment claims against O’Reilly were secretly settled
IN THE weeks after Roger Ailes was ousted as the chairman of Fox News in July, amid a sexual harassment scandal, company executives secretly struck an agreement with a longtime broadcast personality who had come forward with similar accusations about the network’s top host, Bill O’Reilly.
The employee, Juliet Huddy, had said that O’Reilly pursued a sexual relationship with her in 2011, at a time he exerted significant influence over her career. When she rebuffed his advances, he tried to derail her career, according to a draft of a letter from her lawyers to Fox News.
The letter includes allegations that O’Reilly had called Huddy repeatedly and that it sometimes sounded as if he was masturbating. He invited her to his house on Long Island, tried to kiss her, took her to dinner and the theatre, and after asking her to return a key to his hotel room, appeared at the door in his boxer shorts, according to the letter.
In exchange for her silence and agreement not to sue, she was paid a sum in the high six figures, according to people briefed on the agreement. The agreement was between Huddy, 47, and 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News. The company and O’Reilly’s lawyer said her allegations were false.
The letter was mailed anonymously in December to reporters for The Times; its authenticity was verified by several people who have been briefed on it. A person close to Huddy told The Times that she shared accounts of O’Reilly’s unwanted advances at the time they occurred.
In the letter, lawyers for Huddy also said that a longtime Fox executive, Jack Abernethy, had retaliated against her professionally after she made clear that she was not interested in a personal relationship.
Representatives for Fox News and O’Reilly dismissed the allegations Monday night.
“The letter contains substantial falsehoods, which both men have vehemently denied,” Irena Briganti, a spokeswoman for Fox News, said.
Speaking for O’Reilly, Fredric S Newman, his lawyer, said, “There is absolutely no basis for any claim of sexual harassment against Bill O’Reilly by Juliet Huddy.”
Huddy made her allegations known to Fox News in the letter her lawyers sent in August. The settlement was reached September 5, at a time when the company was completing other agreements, including one with Gretchen Carlson, the former anchor whose sexual harassment suit forced the departure of Ailes. (Ailes has denied allegations of sexual harassment.)
The company has not reached an agreement with Andrea Tantaros, another TV personality who raised similar complaints about network executives. About a month before Ailes resigned, Fox News offered Tantaros nearly $1 million for her silence and a promise not to sue the network, its executives or its employees, according to a draft of a proposed agreement. Tantaros rejected the offer and filed suit against the company in August.
O’Reilly has a towering presence at Fox News. He was close to Ailes, and his show generated about $180 mil- lion in advertising in 2015.
He was also viewed by lower-level employees and program hosts as an influential figure in the newsroom; he was the gatekeeper to time on his show, and his support could be crucial to advancement.
But O’Reilly had run into problems before. In 2004, a producer on his show, Andrea Mackris, sued him, asserting he had made unwanted sexual advances and lewd comments.
After two weeks of headlines in New York’s tabloid newspapers, O’Reilly settled for millions of dollars. Both sides said that no wrongdoing had occurred.
According to the letter in Huddy’s case, her lawyers said O’Reilly began sexually harassing her in 2011. She started her career at Fox News in 1998 as a reporter based in Miami and went on to be a host of a syndicated morning show in New York that was cancelled in 2009. In the months afterward, Huddy tried to find a landing place at the network and appeared as a guest on O’Reilly’s show.
In January 2011, O’Reilly invited Huddy to lunch near his home on Long Island, according to the letter. After lunch, he drove her back to his home, where he showed her every room, including his bedroom.
“To shock and disgust, as Ms. Huddy was saying goodbye to Mr. O’Reilly, he quickly moved in and kissed her on the lips,” the letter said. “Ms. Huddy was so taken aback and repulsed that she instinctively recoiled and actually fell to the ground.”
The next week, O’Reilly asked her to join him for dinner at the Harvard Club, followed by a Broadway show, according to the letter and to current and former Fox News employees.
Huddy was not interested in having a romantic relationship with O’Reilly but, the letter said, “she felt compelled to comply with Mr. O’Reilly’s request, given that he had total control over her work assignment”.
As O’Reilly’s pursuit continued, Huddy answered and returned fewer of his calls.
“Ms. Huddy’s rejection of Mr. O’Reilly apparently did not sit well with him, as he began to retaliate against her both on and off air,” the letter said. O’Reilly “nitpicked her work” and would “berate Ms. Huddy for minor mistakes,” according to the letter. O’Reilly stopped preparing her for segments and would surprise her with story angles that they had not discussed.
In 2013, Huddy was replaced on one segment of his show. Another segment that she was featured in, called “Mad as Hell,” was cancelled. She did not complain, fearing retaliation, she told co-workers at the time.
The letter also included a series of accusations by Huddy against Abernethy, including that he started “trashing her” after she rejected his attempts to pursue a relationship. Abernethy signed a new multiyear contract with Fox News in September, after having been named a president of the network in August.
As part of Huddy’s confidential agreement with 21st Century Fox, she agreed not to “disparage, malign or defame” the parties. The company, on its behalf and on the behalf of O’Reilly and Abernethy, agreed not to “disparage, malign or defame” Huddy.