Fox News has been dealing with a lot of changes on the backend. Roger Ailes exited the company over the summer, and Greta Van Susteren and Megyn Kelly have both pursued gigs on other networks. Now, news has come to light that other Fox News mainstay Bill O'Reilly may also have recently dealt with sexual harassment allegations.
It seems the network's Juliet Huddy may have dealt with sexual harassment issues with Bill O'Reilly back in 2011, when she alleges he used to call her and spoke with her while it seemed like he was also masturbating. She says he once invited her back to his hotel room after asking her on a dinner date to the Harvard Club, according to a report from the New York Times. The outlet says that Huddy kept quiet about what happened for some time. Her lawyers sent a letter to Fox News in August of 2016, explaining what Juliet Huddy alleges happened. She settled with the network on September 5, per reports, at the same time Gretchen Carlson and other suits related to Roger Ailes were also being settled.
Juliet Huddy says this isn't just a problem she had with Bill O'Reilly. She also says that she was sexually harassed by Jack Abernethy, another executive at Fox. In Abernethy's case, she says the executive "trashed her" at Fox News. In Bill O'Reilly's case, she says he canceled some of her assignments, although its difficult to tell ifthis is something that happens regularly or something that could actually be retaliation for being rejected.
Fox News has already come out and stated that all of the allegations made by Juliet Huddy are false. It's interesting that the news is coming out now, months after it initially happened. In "he said, she said" cases, it's often hard to tell exactly what happened. At one point, for instance, Juliet Huddy was reportedly asked by Bill O'Reilly to go back to his hotel room, but instead of just saying no and leaving, she actually went up to his hotel room, allegedly to drop off the key. Although the letter she shot off to Fox News has come to light at this point, Juliet Huddy and co. have signed an agreement not to talk about the events in 2011 or what happened afterward, so it's unlikely we'll get to the bottom of the matter anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Mr. Abernethy signed a new contract with Fox News in September. Bill O'Reilly still hosts The O'Reilly Factor on the network. The allegations came just a few weeks after Fox News was forced to deal with a slew of headlines related to Roger Ailes allegedly sexually harassing Gretchen Carlson and other employees at Fox News. Around the same time Juliet Huddy also put her name out there related to different Fox News employees, Roger Ailes quietly resigned. Gretchen Carlsono also settled with Fox News for a large amount of compensation---reportedly in the millions. It's certainly a time of changes and shake-ups at the news network.
In the meantime, you can still catch Bill O'Reilly on weeknights on Fox News. The O'Reilly Factor airs at 8 and 11 p.m. ET.
