Earlier this week, a former Assemblyman from New Jersey, Michael Panter, wrote on Facebook about his ex-girlfriend’s sexual harassment by Bill O’Reilly, followed by O'Reilly's demand that she provide dirt on another woman accusing him of harassment. O’Reilly has retaliated by serving Panter with a legal summons.
In a now-viral Facebook post, Panter wrote that one of his ex-girlfriends was harassed by O’Reilly but bound by a non-disclosure agreement. “Bill should be aware that not everyone is bound by a non-disclosure … I am not,” Panter wrote. He continued:
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 – likely out of fear than I could jeopardize her career by becoming involved. Sometimes information would slip out … she’d come home stressed and reference O’Reilly, and only after some prodding would she reveal that he asked her out, adding that she should not tell anyone - that other women at the network would question it or be jealous.
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.
Panter went on to discuss a phone call “I remember almost verbatim” in which he overheard O’Reilly ask for information from Panter’s (now ex) girlfriend for information he could “use against” an accuser who was suing O’Reilly for sexual harassment.
O’Reilly has responded by serving Panter with a legal summons. Mediaite explains that this does not mean that O’Reilly has officially begun a lawsuit. “After filing the summons, Panter will demand that O’Reilly file an official complaint. After the demand, O’Reilly will then have 20 days to file the lawsuit or the judge could dismiss the case all together.”
I suspect this lawsuit is going nowhere but we'll see. Stay tuned!
(O’Reilly image via Nina Brodsky)
CORRECTION: The Michael Panter was originally misidentified as Michael Painter.