Fox, O’Reilly in hot seat following Times report
$13M paid for harass claims
A top Bay State political consultant won’t say whether she’ll continue her longstanding role as a commentator on “The O’Reilly Factor” in light of sexual harassment charges against host Bill O’Reilly.
Mary Anne Marsh, a consultant to numerous Democratic and women’s rights causes, declined to comment on the record yesterday when asked about a New York Times report detailing payouts made to settle accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.
Boston Herald radio host and columnist Adriana Cohen, who is not a paid Fox contributor but appears as a guest on the network’s shows, said she’d be happy to continue appearing on his show.
“I can’t speak for others but from my experience having been a guest commentator on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ on several occasions, I’ve always found Bill O’Reilly to be a true professional,” she said. “He’s kind, respectful, fair-minded and pleasant to be around. I enjoy joining his program and think Bill is by far one of the best hosts in the business.”
The newspaper reported that O’Reilly or 21st Century Fox have paid $13 million to five women since 2002 over these complaints “in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him.”
In a statement posted to his website in response to the Times report, O’Reilly said: “Just like other prominent and controversial people, I’m vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity.”
21st Century Fox, still dealing with the legal fallout from sexual harassment charges against former Fox News head Roger Ailes, didn’t say whether O’Reilly would be disciplined.
But the company did say in a statement that it had looked into “these matters” in the past few months and discussed them with the host.
The company said O’Reilly denied the merits of “these claims” but has “resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility.”
The company said it “takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously” and that “Mr. O’Reilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News.”
Requests for comments sent to a lawyer and a spokesman for O’Reilly were not immediately answered.
The story said more than 60 people were interviewed, including current and former employees of Fox News or its parent company and people who know the women behind the complaints or are close to O’Reilly. Most demanded anonymity.
O’Reilly’s statement did not deny the payments. Ailes left last summer amid sexual harassment charges, which he has denied. Fox also reportedly fired an executive, Francisco Cortes, after a sexual assault complaint and paid his accuser more than $2.5 million in a settlement.