Laurie Dhue, a former Fox news anchor, has filed a lawsuit directly against Bill O’Reilly, claiming that he defamed her defending himself against allegations of sexual harassment.
Dhue worked for Fox News from 2000 to 2008 and, according to the New York Times, was one of five women who received settlements in relation to the sexual harassment allegations.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan and specifically points to a series of public statements made by O’Reilly himself after the Times ran their article. Statements that the news anchor claims are false and malicious.
She says his claim, during a Matt Lauer interview, that he “never mistreated anyone on [his] watch in 42 years” is not only a lie … it’s also damaging her career. As she puts it, no one’s going to hire a journalist who’s been labeled a liar.
O’Reilly stated in April of last year that he parted ways with Fox due to these “unfounded claims” and in June he says the allegations against him were made by “far-left progressive organizations that are bent on destroying anybody with whom they disagree.”
According to Frederic S. Newman, an attorney for O’Reilly, Dhue’s lawsuit has “absolutely no merit.”
“Mr. O’Reilly has never mentioned Dhue, and any attention she has received has been the result of her own actions. Mr. O’Reilly will defend himself in court fully and aggressively against all unfounded, opportunistic claims, and he will seek all appropriate legal remedies as well,” the statement read.
The three other women who reached settlements have also filed similar lawsuits against the former Fox News bigwig.
“The irony of all this post-settlement litigation is that O’Reilly — as well is his former (and late) boss Roger Ailes — expertly used non-disclosure/non-disparagement clauses plus stacks of money to enable and excuse his workplace behavior,” The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple wrote of that lawsuit. “Yet O’Reilly lacks the sophistication — which is to say, he won’t shut up — necessary to keep the whole putrid operation glued together.