Bill O’Reilly Sexual Harassment Accuser Blocked From ‘The View’ Appearance With Restraining Order
“The View” postponed Wednesday’s interview with Andrea Mackris, the woman who accused Bill O’Reilly of sexual harassment, after becoming aware of a restraining order he filed against her Tuesday night.
“We were notified late yesterday about a temporary restraining order issued by a court against Andrea Mackris. We decided to postpone her interview pending further developments. We look forward to welcoming her to The View at a later date,” a representative told TheWrap Wednesday after a notice went out to press that Mackris would not be on the daily talkshow.
TheWrap was unable to locate the retraining order in court filings, though the Daily Beast reports the former cable host’s lawyers petitioned the New York State Supreme Court in Nassau County for it.
Mackris recently ignored her years-long non-disclosure agreement and gave a full interview to the Daily Beast outlining the process by which she settled her sexual harassment claim against O’Reilly for $9 million in 2004, when he was a top star at Fox News, and the impact that it’s all had on her life since.
“Here was my boss, a man who held my career and future in his hands, acknowledging that he knew I’d never consented but he didn’t care,” she said.
“I didn’t release a statement, he did. It was part of the NDA on October 28, 2004,” the former Fox News producer said. “I had no choice, no way out. He uses it to abuse me. That same document says Bill won’t breach, which he’s done over and over, calling me a liar. It cuts both ways.”
O’Reilly was fired from Fox News over sexual harassment accusations in 2017. In 2004, Mackris was 33 years old and had worked under O’Reilly at Fox News — then helmed by late founder Roger Ailes, who was also ousted after sexual harassment accusations in 2016 — for four years. Some details of her accusations have been widely known for years, like O’Reilly describing how he wanted to soap her down with a “falafel thing,” by which he meant a loofah.
