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A new report in The New York Times details how former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly settled out of court with someone who accused him of sexual harassment, just one month before he was dismissed from the network.
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According to the Times, O’Reilly struck a near unheard of $32 million dollar settlement with a longtime network analyst. The deal was struck less than a year after Fox News removed former chairman Roger Ailes. O’Reilly’s own dismissal would come just a few weeks later.
The reported recipient of the settlement was longtime Fox News guest, Lis Wiehl. It was the sixth such settlement that O’Reilly had paid out and by far the largest. 21st Century Fox confirmed the settlement to the Times but wouldn’t speak to the dollar amount.
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“Although the deal has not been previously made public, the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, acknowledges that it was aware of the woman’s complaints about Mr. O’Reilly,” the Times reported.
“They included allegations of repeated harassment, a nonconsensual sexual relationship and the sending of gay pornography and other sexually explicit material to her, according to the people briefed on the matter.
In a September interview with NBC, O’Reilly continued to deny allegations that he acted improperly with anyone and chalked up his dismissal to be a “hit job.”
“If you look at the totality, this was a hit job — a political and financial hit job,” he told “TODAY.”
