FOX BACKS O’REILLY AFTER SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIMS

New York — Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said Saturday that he is “vulnerable to lawsuits” because of his high-profile job, in response to a New York Times report detailing payouts made to settle accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.

O’Reilly posted the statement to his website after the Times report Saturday, and Fox News’ parent company 21st Century Fox backed him in a statement. 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.”

21st Century Fox said in a statement that it had looked into “these matters” in the past few months and discussed them with O’Reilly.