Bill O’Reilly is suing former New Jersey state assemblyman Michael Panter over a Facebook post he published that said an ex-girlfriend of his settled a sexual harassment suit with the former Fox News host.
“This action seeks redress for Defendant Panter’s intentional, malicious, and bad faith actions in making defamatory and false statements in a publicly-available social media post,” the suit reads.
Panter’s lengthy account of the episode went semi-viral on Facebook after it was published on Tuesday.
“My ex’s career was largely dependent on staying in O’Reilly’s good graces. For that reason, she was always hesitant to tell me some details,” wrote Panter. “I was also there on several occasions when a late night call would come from O’Reilly, which would create tension and make her clearly uncomfortable (I believe she later said in her suit that she believed he was masturbating). All as she was laying next to her boyfriend, and worried what hanging up could do to her career.”
Further down, Panter described another instance when O’Reilly called demanding damaging information on another woman who was accusing him of sexual harassment at the time and said the call was facilitated by Fox News senior management.
“In essence, the leadership of Fox, including their “HR” head/counsel and O’Reilly, who held my ex’s career in their hands (and whom O’Reilly was also harassing) was demanding information to attack another victim,” he wrote. “Think about that in light of him stating that very few women ever went to HR to complain about him, and how hollow those words ring.”
A representative for Fox News declined to comment on the matter. Panter was also not immediately available.
You can read the Facebook post which ignited the suit here: