WHAT DID YOU DO, BILL?
MEGYN WANTS ANSWERS ON $32M ‘AWFULNESS’
HOW MUCH horror can $32 million hush up?
That was the question raised by former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly on Monday when she used her platform at NBC to blast ex-mentor Bill O’Reilly for his latest sex-harassment scandal.
“That is a jaw-dropping figure,” Kelly said of the $32 million O’Reilly paid to former Fox legal analyst Lis Wiehl, who claimed the host of “The O’Reilly Factor” harassed her while they were both at the network, according to The New York Times.
“O.J. Simpson was ordered to pay the Goldman and Brown families $33.5 million for the murders of Ron and Nicole,” Kelly said, talking about the civil case Simpson lost in the 1994 murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.
“What on Earth would justify that amount? What awfulness went on?” the former Fox anchor said on “Megyn Kelly Today.”
The Times reported Saturday that O’Reilly paid $32 million — the sixth settlement from the anchor and his network — to former analyst Wiehl, allegedly over lewd messages he sent her and what the newspaper described as a “nonconsensual sexual relationship.”
The settlement was paid by O’Reilly in January — just as he was negotiating a new $100 million fouryear contract with Fox.
Attorney Gloria Allred, who has tried many high-profile cases involving sexual discrimination, abuse and assault of women, said the size and speed of the payout was telling.
“If Bill O’Reilly paid that amount of money, it must have meant that he felt that he was caught and had no way out other than to pay,” Allred said in an email to the Daily News.
Lawrance Bohm, a sexual harassment attorney who has won two of the largest settlements in history, said The Times’ description of Wiehl’s allegations could cover a multitude of sins.
““In the civil context, there’s only nonconsensual sexual relationship — there’s no such thing as rape, that’s a criminal term,” he said. “Nonconsensual can mean that someone’s caught in a sexual relationship they don’t want to be in, but for whatever reason can’t leave, or it can mean they are coerced.”
He also said the amount spoke volumes about the strength of the case.
“When you’re paying that amount of money, to be politically correct, I should say that means there’s enough information that the payor has reason to believe a jury might agree with the plaintiff’s allegations,” Bohm said.
The timing of O’Reilly’s contract talks could also have been a factor.
“When you have a high-profile person accused of committing such acts, there is a huge benefit to a quick settlement. Dragging the process out might be more damaging to the individual’s reputation and finances,” said attorney Eric Baum, whose firm handles many workplace harassment and abuse cases.
“For a payout of this kind, there is likely smoking gun damaging evidence of the claims,” he added. Kelly, who went pub-
lic with her own allegations of sexual abuse at her former network, made some demands Monday. “This must stop,” she said, staring directly into the camera. “The abuse of women, the shaming of them, the threatening, the retaliation. The silencing of them after the fact.” O’Reilly also settled a lawsuit leveled by ex-Fox News reporter Juliet Huddy, who appeared with Kelly on NBC Monday. Huddy (inset right), who was reportedly paid a high six-figure amount, said suing a major entity like Fox News was a daunting decision. She declined to discuss the settlement, however, because of a nondisclosure agreement she was forced to sign. “I think many women go into the settlement agreement because they just don’t want to face what potentially could be coming at them,” she said. “Again, you are dealing with a corporation filled with people who are going to do everything they possibly came to make sure they win, and you don’t.”
Kelly says she complained to Fox News about O’Reilly nearly a year ago, but network executives turned a deaf ear to her pleas.
O’Reilly has since been fired — but he stood his ground Monday, tweeting he was “not going to run and hide because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
While most of his wrath was pointed at the media, O’Reilly also pointed his finger at a higher power.
“You know, am I mad at God? Yeah, I’m mad at him,” O’Reilly said Monday on “No Spin News,” his subscription-only web show. “I wish I had more protection. I wish this stuff didn’t happen. I can’t explain it to you. Yeah, I’m mad at him,” he told his subscribers, according to ABC News Local 10 in Miami. Earlier Monday, he had accused The Times of trying to “take me out of the marketplace.” O’Reilly, during a call-in to Glenn Beck’s radio show, said he dealt with just three human resources complaints during more than 20 years at Fox News. “And the only reason I did solve them was to keep my children safe,” he said. “O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false,” Kelly said Monday on her show. “I know because I complained.”