Paul, Weiss Investigating Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly harassment allegations get Biglaw treatment.
(Photo by Noam Galai/WireImage)
With a New York Times exposé, a scathing SNL skit, and a metric ton of advertisers running for the hills, it’s certainly not the best of times for Bill O’Reilly. If you start to lose the trust of dick pills and reverse mortgages, you’ve truly lost America.
And now the Times reports that 21st Century Fox has escalated O’Reilly’s alleged antics to a Biglaw investigation, with Paul, Weiss coming on board to investigate at least one of the sexual harassment allegations against the host.[1] As the host himself might ask, what the heck just happened?
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It appears the hubris of O’Reilly and his network got the better of them this time. In response to O’Reilly’s recent negative publicity, Fox assured the media that they thoroughly investigate every complaint made to their anonymous hotline, but both Fox and O’Reilly were quick to note that no current or former Fox employee had used the hotline to raise a complaint about O’Reilly.
Oh, why did you pinheads dangle that in front of a lawyer?
[Wendy Walsh’s] lawyer, Lisa Bloom, said that they decided to call the hotline because the company had said that nobody had done so.
And the other shoe drops. Bloom’s client, Wendy Walsh, says O’Reilly rescinded a verbal agreement to make her a network contributor after she refused to join him in his hotel suite in 2013.
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Reacting to the news that Paul, Weiss would be looking into these allegations, Bloom took to Twitter:
The New England Patriots would agree with you. Still, in defense of Paul, Weiss, Fox previously brought them on to conduct the internal investigation of network honcho Roger Ailes and they unceremoniously kicked him to the curb, so there’s no reason to question the firm’s integrity. And, frankly, this critique doesn’t make any sense. Fox is hemorrhaging money over O’Reilly’s allegations, so even if Paul, Weiss would trade its integrity to tell a client what they wanted to hear — and they wouldn’t — Fox is probably eagerly hoping the firm’s going to give them the cover they need to ditch the guy throwing their primetime ad revenue into a black hole so they can give the show to Tomi Lahren.
Meanwhile, we’ve already gotten some exclusive footage of O’Reilly’s lawyers trying to prepare him for his formal interview with Paul, Weiss:
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Fox Asks Law Firm to Investigate Bill O’Reilly Harassment Claim [New York Times]
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[1] UPDATE: Fox reached out to us to object to this phrase “coming on board” because Paul Weiss was already involved in the Ailes investigation. Obviously, the company could have hired a different firm to investigate a new complaint about a different person — it’s not uncommon to engage multiple firms on multiple independent matters. So, apparently, Fox wants the media to consider this O’Reilly complaint to be the same matter as the investigation into the culture of sexual harassment probe that resulted in canning Ailes, which says something.
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
