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PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Tuesday 4 April 2017

Bill O’Reilly, ex-Fox chief hit with more sexual allegations

DAVID BAUDER had her own harassment it,” said the lawsuit, filed in In this combination photo, former Fox News contributor Wendy
AP Television Writer allegations against Ailes, state court. Walsh, left, appears at a news conference in the Woodland Hills
NEW YORK (AP) — A Fox she was never encouraged Fox News representatives section of Los Angeles on Monday, April 3, 2017, and Fox News
News contributor came to speak to the law firm did not immediately return personality Bill O’Reilly appears on the set of his show, “The
forward to level more sex- hired by Fox News parent messages for comment. O’Reilly Factor” on Oct. 1, 2015 in New York.
ual-harassment allegations 21st Century Fox to investi- Roginsky said she believes
against deposed chief gate claims against him. Shine hasn’t given her an Associated Press
executive Roger Ailes on And she said Fox never opportunity for advance-
Monday, two days after looked into her charges. ment in retaliation for her room, his attitude changed vestigation by the city Hu-
it was revealed the net- Her lawyer would not say harassment complaint and and she was soon dropped man Rights Commission. A
work’s most popular on-air Monday why Roginsky nev- her refusal to speak out from the show, according spokesman for the com-
personality, Bill O’Reilly, has er contacted the firm on against Carlson. to Walsh. mission said no claim had
settled multiple complaints her own. At a Los Angeles news con- Bloom was seeking an in- been filed. q
about his own behavior Roginsky said that during a ference Monday, lawyer
with women. meeting in December, new Lisa Bloom detailed alle-
O’Reilly was due to return Fox top executive Bill Shine gations against O’Reilly by
to the air on Monday fol- told her he didn’t believe Wendy Walsh, a regular
lowing a weekend report the allegations against guest on the prime-time
in The New York Times that Ailes until recently. But the show “The O’Reilly Factor.”
he and his employer had lawsuit alleges Shine and Bloom said O’Reilly had told
paid five women $13 mil- other top Fox executives Walsh he would recom-
lion to settle allegations of should have known about mend her for a paid con-
sexual harassment or other Ailes’ behavior much ear- tributor role on the network.
inappropriate conduct by lier. Walsh and O’Reilly had din-
Fox’s ratings king. “Shine and other senior ner in Los Angeles in 2013,
Meanwhile, the lawyer for executives kept Ailes’ con- but when Walsh refused his
another woman who says duct secret and enabled invitation to go to his hotel
she was punished for re-
buffing O’Reilly’s advances
called on New York City’s
Human Rights Commission
to investigate O’Reilly’s be-
havior.
The new lawsuit against
Ailes was brought by Fox’s
Julie Roginsky and is no-
table because it accuses
Fox’s current manage-
ment of trying to cover up
for Ailes.
Roginsky said Ailes, who
lost his job last summer fol-
lowing sexual-harassment
complaints he has denied,
suggested she have sex
with “older, married, con-
servative men.” She said
Ailes would insist upon a
kiss hello at their meetings,
requiring her to bend over
so he could look down her
dress.
She was seeking a perma-
nent role on Fox’s show
“The Five.” But after an April
2015 meeting at which she
turned down Ailes’ ad-
vances, he wouldn’t meet
with her again, and she
never got the regular role,
she said.
Later, she said, she was
pressured to join Team
Roger, a group of people
who publicly defended
Ailes when the first harass-
ment complaint made
public against the Fox boss
was brought by Gretch-
en Carlson last summer.
Roginsky refused.
She said that even though
Fox executives knew she