posted October 15, 2004 09:42 AM              

Posted on Fri, Oct. 15, 2004

TV ANCHOR FEARS SEX SCANDAL WILL KILL CAREER

By Howard Kurtz

Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Bill O'Reilly and the Fox News Channel producer accusing him of sexual harassment hit the airwaves Thursday in an increasingly ugly war of words as the anchor acknowledged that his career is on the line.

``I knew I was going to get vilified and vile stuff was going to be put out there,'' O'Reilly said in a phone interview. ``It's very embarrassing to have this stuff out there. Any human being would be depressed to see this. . . . This is the worst day of my life.''

O'Reilly said he could not, on his attorney's advice, address producer Andrea Mackris' accusations that he subjected her to graphic phone-sex chats -- a tactic that her attorney, Benedict Morelli, seized upon.

``Guys like O'Reilly who like to espouse what right-wing Republicans espouse about family values shouldn't be doing stuff like this,'' he said. ``The man knows he did it. He finally got it through his thick skull that he did it, and he's not going to get away with it. . . . He's going down.''

Mackris, 33, appeared on ``Good Morning America'' and ``Today'' on Thursday, saying: ``There were definitely threats. I was threatened.''

Asked why she returned to ``The O'Reilly Factor'' in July, after a few months at CNN, if the earlier conversations were offensive, Mackris said: ``I came back because he agreed to not ever talk to me that way again.''

But then, she said, ``the language was ratcheted up. He pushed the boundaries further and further from what I had established.''

I know this O'Reilly guy is one of Jwhop's heros and I'm sure this will rile him....sorry...but hey, seems "exposes" are the name of the game here..*sigh*

posted October 15, 2004 10:42 AM            

When women attempt to have phone sex with me, I just hang up.

And yet, this woman left, went to CNN and then returned as a producer of O'Reilly's show? This woman who was being sexually harassed returned?

What is it this woman really wants? Is it the $60,000,000 she and her attorney...a democrat activist and contributor, attempted to extort from O'Reilly. Or is it some bad press for a semi-conservative with a very large radio and television audience just before a presidential election?

Time will tell because the suggestion has been made there are tapes of O'Reilly's calls to her. Tapes that she and her attorney aren't interested in releasing. Tapes that O'Reilly does want released.

For my own part, and speaking from the point of common sense, if my voice was on tape sexually harassing a woman, the very last thing I would want would be for them to be played in front of a rabidly leftist press who would immediately put the conversations on the front pages of every newspaper in America and make those conversations the lead story on every television news broadcast for the next 3 weeks.

Oh, and does someone who is being sexually harassed by their employer use this kind of language when describing her situation at her employers shop? Things are...... "wonderful, amazing, fun, creative, invigorating, secure, well-managed, challenging, interesting fun and surrounded by really good, fun people. I'm home and I'll never leave again."

Fox Producer Claims O'Reilly Sexually Harassed Her
NewsMax Wires
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004

Fox News Channel traded accusations Wednesday with one of the producers of Bill O'Reilly's show, with the woman alleging that the commentator had phone sex with her against her wishes three times. Fox in a claim of its own dismissed the sexual harassment complaint as a politically motivated extortion attempt.

The woman, Andrea Mackris, is an associate producer on "The O'Reilly Factor," a job she returned to in July after a short stint at CNN.

During a phone conversation this August, Mackris, 33, said O'Reilly suggested she buy a vibrator and was clearly excited. Before hanging up, she said, O'Reilly told her: "I appreciate the fun phone call."

She contended he made a similar call Sept. 21, ending that one by saying: "Next time you'll come up to my hotel room and we'll make this happen."

In his claim against Mackris and her attorney, Benedict Morelli, O'Reilly said Morelli demanded $60 million in "hush money" to not file the lawsuit.

"As a public figure, I have received many threats," he said. "But enough is enough ... The threats stop now. I will not give in to extortion."

O'Reilly's lawyer, Ronald Green, said he believes there are tapes of conversations between the two and asked a court to compel Mackris to produce them so they could be played publicly.

"I know that he does not fear what is on the tapes," Green said.

Morelli would not comment on whether any taped phone conversations exist.

O'Reilly is Fox News Channel's leading personality, and "The O'Reilly Factor" is the highest-rated program on cable news.

Trying to Embarrass

Besides the attempt for money, O'Reilly charged that his accuser and her lawyer were trying to embarrass him and Fox News Channel three weeks before the election. Morelli, he said, is a contributor to the Democratic Party; "The O'Reilly Factor" is a particular favorite among Republican viewers.

Morelli said his political contributions had nothing to do with the case.

"When he sued me today, I understood what kind of bully he is," the lawyer said.

Mackris sat next to Morelli at a news conference Wednesday, but did not speak and would not answer questions.

Morelli's partner, David Ratner, later said his client told Fox she was prepared to sue two weeks ago, but held off after the two sides agreed to negotiate. Ratner said the talks broke down Tuesday night.

The cable network filed its lawsuit Wednesday morning and the woman immediately countered.

A former White House intern in the first Bush administration, Mackris began working for O'Reilly in April 2000. Her complaint said that the first time she noticed odd behavior by O'Reilly came in 2002, when the Fox host allegedly urged her to use a vibrator after her engagement broke off.

Mackris' complaint said she told O'Reilly she was not interested in phone sex and felt "trapped" after his first inappropriate phone call.

Mackris never complained to anyone at Fox about untoward behavior by O'Reilly, Green said. When she returned to Fox earlier this year, O'Reilly agreed to match her salary at CNN, the network said.

Fox produced an e-mail Mackris sent to a friend last month, saying things are "wonderful, amazing, fun, creative, invigorating, secure, well-managed, challenging, interesting fun and surrounded by really good, fun people. I'm home and I'll never leave again."

Mackris said in her lawsuit that she told O'Reilly she would return to Fox only if he stopped the inappropriate behavior.

She said O'Reilly told her: "If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. I'll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable that she'll be destroyed."

On his show Wednesday, O'Reilly called the case "the single most evil thing I have ever experienced, and I've seen a lot. But these people picked the wrong guy."

posted October 15, 2004 11:03 AM              

Ick on all levels.

posted October 15, 2004 01:21 PM            

Release of those tapes reputed to be in the possession of her and her attorney might answer that question.

She is one of the following:

posted October 15, 2004 01:33 PM              

Do I hear a house of cards falling?

I love to see hypocrites exposed for what they truly are.

O'Reilly, SHUT UP!!!!!!

posted October 15, 2004 01:39 PM            

Or course, you could have viewed the whole incident in your crystal ball.

posted October 15, 2004 06:21 PM            

I know that there are numerous liberals out there who would LOVE to see this host get knocked down. I think he is too smart to have gotten into a situation of sexual harrassment.

Anyone that is willing to push for taped conversations to be played is NOT afraid of what will be found.

I wonder why the harrassed woman does not want those same tapes played?

posted October 15, 2004 07:00 PM              

I hope his lawyers are right though... about him possibly being finished. I can't stand him. He's full of so much BS it's sickening.

For instance, I was at a friend's house whose husband LOVES that jackass. Anyhow, he was doing a piece (of garbage) about how gansta (but he pronounced it "gangstER) rap is responsible for the problems of the youth today. Meanwhile, in the background, he's showing clips of Outkast, Jay-Z, Ludacris, and someone else... I forget... The point is, these aren't gangsta rappers. They're mainstream HIP HOP artists. Spreading lies is his job... the news has enough slants. I just want some god-damn news.

posted October 15, 2004 07:03 PM              

If she wasn't interested, then why didn't she just hang up the phone?

When I read an article about this, I was thinking the exact same thing, I would hang up.

posted October 15, 2004 07:35 PM            

Does hanging up on him make it okay for him to harass her? I mean, anyone can sexually harass you or threaten you or whatever to you over the phone as long as you hang up and ignore it?
How about in person? Is it okay that someone sexually harasses you? After all, you could just walk away couldn't you? Why would you choose to stand there and "allow" the harassment to happen?

That argument is so absolutely illogical.

Nothing at all gives one person the right to sexually harass another person. Period.

If you think that you know exactly how you would react to sexual harassment over the phone or in person ... well, unless you have gone through it and reacted that way then you wouldn't know.

******

Unless and until the matter plays itself out in this particular case ... we just won't know for sure what happened. So why all the assumptions, good and bad? It's pointlessly antagonistic.

posted October 15, 2004 08:14 PM            

However, it is simply not appropriate for anyone, not just O'Reilly, to harass someone sexually, if indeed that is what happened. For you to react, as in, give a reaction, to sexual harassment of any kind ... you kind of have to be harassed first. So, regardless of how you react, you were still harassed.

Do I think she would have been wise to hang up? Yes, I do. Do I think the fact that she didn't hang up automatically makes it right that he harassed her? No, I don't.

The disturbing fact, in many cases of work related sexual harassment, is that the women (or men) who claim to have been harassed are intimidated by the alleged harasser. They are scared of losing their jobs if they don't comply, especially if the person has a greater position of authority. Most people, when confronted with any kind of disturbing situation, tend to panic or freeze up, out of fear.

In this case, maybe she was just trying to get his money. Maybe she trying to get it on tape because it had happened before to her or to somebody else that had told her about it.
The fact is that I don't know what happened in this particular case for sure. In fact, nobody but O'Reilly and the lady know for sure what did happen.

It's wrong to say that O'Reilly is a sexual harasser and it's just as wrong to accuse the woman in question of having ulterior motives ... until it's proven in a court of law. Innocent until proven guilty for the alleged bad guy, so why not the same for the alleged victim?

posted October 15, 2004 08:51 PM            

Yes LS, Paula Jones, Juanita Broderick, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey and Monica all sexually harassed and/or raped/assaulted Bill Clinton...and those are just the one's we know about. I wonder how many other harrowing assaults that poor boy endured and bravely kept his mouth shut about?

Hello Star

posted October 16, 2004 07:15 AM              

Crystal Ball? Do you even know what you are talking about, pidaua? I sure as heck don't. Sounds to me like you are just parroting jwhop.

I was referring to the Washington Post article. It stated that the woman called it sexual harassment. Next thing we know jwhop is labeling it phone sex.

Quote:

Jwhop, I KNOW RIGHT!!
If she wasn't interested, then why didn't she just hang up the phone?

Speaking of crystal balls it seems I'm not the one gazing into those around here. How do you know that she didn't hang up the phone?

posted October 16, 2004 02:16 PM            

quote:

---

O'Reilly said he could not, on his attorney's advice, address producer Andrea Mackris' accusations that he subjected her to graphic phone-sex chats

---

It was I who said the following Mirandee, that she was one of the following:

An aggrieved and sexually harassed woman
A gold digger
A politically motivated liar
A vindictive liar attempting to destroy O'Reilly's career and marriage over some real or imagined grievance.

posted October 16, 2004 02:41 PM              

quote:

---

She asked for 60 million dollars in "HUSH" money, do you know how disgusting that sounds?

---

Star Lover hon, she didn't ASK for "HUSH" money....her lawyer said, it is common prodecure to try and get a settlement out of court, before going to court and that is what they were doing....(but "hush money" certainly would be a slant O'Reilly lovers would put on it - IN THE NO SPIN ZONE... )...*sigh*

It's amazing how words can get twisted round here....

posted October 16, 2004 03:04 PM              

quote:

---

Mackris never complained to anyone at Fox about untoward behavior by O'Reilly, Green said.

---

Let's get real? How far would she get, with the big wigs at the "fair and balanced" (yeah, right!) network? These are POWERFUL people, for heaven's sake!

O'Reilly said:

quote:

---

"....these people picked the wrong guy."

---

Perhaps she did considering what he told her...

quote:

---

"If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. I'll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable that she'll be destroyed."

---

Myself, I believe her...

Love,
Rainbow

posted October 19, 2004 01:26 PM            

Fox News Channel star Bill O'Reilly was set-up by sexual harassment accuser Andrea Mackris, according to a former friend of Mackris who owns a Manhattan restaurant where she regularly let her hair down.

The revelation comes from Upper West Side restaurateur Matthew Paratore, who told the New York Post on Monday that he eventually had to ban Mackris from his establishment for loud, lewd and indecent behavior a few months ago.

Story Continues Below

But before the two had a falling out, Paratore claimed Mackris detailed her plans to take O'Reilly out.
And O'Reilly's lawyer Ronald Green claims Paratore told him that the disgruntled Fox producer planned a kiss and tell book that would "take down Bill O'Reilly and Fox News."

"She spoke to a well-known publisher in January this year. She was told it had to have more impact, she had to do more to make the book more interesting and exciting," Green told the New York Daily News.

Adding a political twist to the plot, Paratore claimed that Mackris had once dined in his establishment with O'Reilly nemesis Al Franken.

The restaurateur said Mackris told his staff that she and Franken "share a common political belief" which was contrary to O'Reilly's.

Paratore also cast doubt on the Fox producer's claims that O'Reilly sexually harassed her by repeatedly "forcing" her to engage in what Mackris termed "phone sex."

"From what she told me, I wouldn't characterize it as phone sex," he told the News. "This was not harassment. It was very clear to me that this was their little banter back and forth. This was their game or something."

"She loved the guy. She admired him, She respected him," Paratore told the News. He said she began confiding in O'Reilly after her relationship with her fiancé unraveled 2002. "From one of those conversations grew a relationship where they would have more intimate talk over the phone," he contended.

O'Reilly's lawyer was more graphic, telling the Post that Paratore's story included the claim that a boozed-up Mackris once boasted she was going to bed O'Reilly - along with Paratore himself.

"If you think I'm going to f - - - Bill O'Reilly, I'm going to f - - - you even more," she allegedly blurted out.

posted October 19, 2004 05:59 PM              

Pretty racy stuff. Not for the prudish.

posted October 19, 2004 09:08 PM              

He deserves whatever he gets.

Maybe... just maybe this is his Karma for being such a piece of