Entertainment

Bill O'Reilly Sued for Allegedly Defaming One of His Accusers

Berstein's attorney filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY against O'Reilly and Fox News for breach of contract and defamation.

"Knowing Ms. Bernstein and O'Reilly's other victims are afraid to speak out because he and Fox forced them to sign non-disclosure agreements, O'Reilly and Fox have made false and disparaging claims", the statement said.

The complaint, filed in NY federal court, also addresses statements from Fox News this past April.

She argued that O'Reilly publicly disparaged her after she settled a harassment lawsuit with him in 2002.

"Plaintiff did complain in person to Fox HR, Bill Shine and other Fox executives about O'Reilly's abuse", Bernstein's attorneys say in today's filing of the now once again tarnished company and its ex-co-President.

"Fox News has been aware of complaints about inappropriate behavior by Mr. O'Reilly since at least 2002, when Mr. O'Reilly stormed into the newsroom and screamed at a young producer, according to current and former employees, some of whom witnessed the incident". Bernstein refuted the existence of the hotline, her lawyer characterized Fox's claim as a "cynical falsehood about a nonexistent hotline" that was invented "to bolster O'Reilly's claim that the women who received settlements must have fabricated their claims or they would have complained". She did go to HR and other company executives to complain about him several times.

Reps for Fox News and Bill O'Reilly were not immediately available for comment.

Her suit names both Fox News and O'Reilly as respondents and looks for harms to be resolved at trial for break of agreement, slander and different cases.

Since Fox News cut ties with O'Reilly-just weeks after the Times published an April report detailing the numerous settlements O'Reilly and 21st Century Fox made regarding sexual harassment-he's taken numerous occasions to question the credibility of the anonymous women and reiterate his total innocence. "They should release all victims from their NDS and let the truth out".

The defendants breached their agreement by making statements other than the agreed-upon statement that were false and defamatory, Bernstein alleges. Mullin's law firm, Smith Mullin, also represented former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who alleged she was harassed by the late Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes.

stayontheblack.com

Bill O'Reilly Sued for Allegedly Defaming One of His Accusers