After American producer Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment came into the pick, now it's time for Bill O'Reilly aka William James O'Reilly Jr., American journalist, television host, and author.
The New York Times Saturday reported that the former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly settled a sexual harassment claim for around $32 million with Lis Wiehl.
American television host Bill O'Reilly Settled a Sex Harassment for $32 million
This particular settlement is regarded to be one of the biggest in recent memory. It even topped the $20 million payment received by Gretchen Carlson, who sued Roger Ailes, after alleging that she was harassed.
One of the familiar people with the discussions claims that O'Reilly settled three cases against him and with the others solved by the 21st Century Fox. After Fox signed a new multi-million dollar contract despite the claim by Wiehl against O'Reilly, many people raised their eyebrows on this topic.
American television host Bill O'Reilly Source: cdn.turner
21st Century Fox said:
“When the company renewed Bill O’Reilly’s contract in February, it knew that a sexual harassment lawsuit had been threatened against him by Lis Wiehl, but was informed by Mr. O’Reilly that he had settled the matter personally on financial terms that he and Ms. Wiehl had agreed confidential and not disclosed to the company. His new contract which was made at the time typical for renewals of multi-year talent contracts, added protections of the company specifically aimed at harassment, including that Mr.O’Reilly could be dismissed if the company was made aware of other allegations of if the additional relevant information was obtained in a company investigation. The company subsequently acted based on the terms of this contract.”
The New York Times revealed that Wiehl's settlement was the sixth settlement made by the parties.
O'Reilly's spokesman, Mark Fabiani slammed The New York Times for mentioning a written settlement signed by Wiehl withdrawing her claims.
He stated:
Here are the facts: after the Chairman of Fox News Roger Ailes was fired in July 2015, dozens of women accused scores of male employees of Fox News of harassment — including the current co-president of Fox News Jack Abernathy. 21st Century Fox settled almost all of these cases, paying out close to $100 million. Six months after Mr. Ailes left the company, Fox News Corporation signed Bill O’Reilly to a record-breaking new contract after the company had analyzed and considered the allegations against him.
The O'Reilly Factor is one of the biggest shows in the news that earned around $326million in a year.