abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=163601
Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly poses on the roof of the Fox building in Ne w York in this Oct. Fox filed a cou ntersuit, saying the complaint was a politically motivated extortion att empt. Fox in a claim of its own dismissed the sexual harassment complaint as a politically motiv ated extortion attempt. The woman, Andrea Mackris, is an associate producer on "The O'Reilly Fact or," a job she returned to in July after a short stint at CNN. During a phone conversation this August, Mackris, 33, said O'Reilly sugge sted she buy a vibrator and was clearly excited. Before hanging up, she said, O'Reilly told her: "I appreciate the fun phone call."
"As a public figure, I have received many threats," he said. O'Reilly's lawyer, Ronald Green, said he believes there are tapes of conv ersations 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 Fac tor" is the highest-rated program on cable news. 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 bef ore the election. Morelli, he said, is a contributor to the Democratic P arty; "The O'Reilly Factor" is a particular favorite among Republican vi ewers. 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 lawye r said. Mackris sat next to Morelli at a news conference Wednesday, but did not s peak and would not answer questions. Morelli's partner, David Ratner, later said his client told Fox she was p repared to sue two weeks ago, but held off after the two sides agreed to negotiate. The cable network filed its lawsuit Wednesday morning and the woman immed iately countered. A former White House intern in the first Bush administration, Mackris beg an 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 ho st 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'Re illy, Green said. When she returned to Fox earlier this year, O'Reilly a greed 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-mana ged, challenging, interesting fun and surrounded by really good, fun peo ple. Mackris said in her lawsuit that she told O'Reilly she would return to Fo x 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 t hat she'll be destroyed." On his show Wednesday, O'Reilly called the case "the single most evil thi ng I have ever experienced, and I've seen a lot. This material m ay not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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