Bill O’Reilly Begins Legal Action Against Man Who Wrote About Sexual Harassment Of Girlfriend

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.

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Showing 9 reactions

commented 2017-10-28 18:52:48 -0400 · Flag

To me, the 32 million dollar question is whether American justice can be bought so easily. I’d say there are prima facie cases of forcible rape (multiple) and blackmail/extortion going untried and unpunished.

commented 2017-10-28 17:28:13 -0400 · Flag

I guess Bill-O is the only person out there who doesn’t believe he has become irrelevant.

commented 2017-10-28 02:51:18 -0400 · Flag

Billy needs mental help. Perhaps Sinclair can pay for his treatments before putting him on camera.

commented 2017-10-27 23:44:51 -0400 · Flag

Well if Junior O’Reilly does put himself into bankruptcy, He knows someone with quite a bit of experience at bankruptcy. President Rump could advise him how to get around it with a little help from the Rooskies.

commented 2017-10-27 21:49:29 -0400 · Flag

The only downside is for O’Reilly himself. If he wants to put himself into bankruptcy over these tantrums, it’s up to him.

commented 2017-10-27 20:24:09 -0400 · Flag

Kevin….and there’s a downside to O’Reilly foolishly pursuing his SLAPP suit?

commented 2017-10-27 20:14:00 -0400 · Flag

Bill O’Reilly is no longer employed by Fox News, so he can’t depend on them to protect him. He’s completely exposed here. If he persists with this SLAPP suit, the most likely scenario is that he will be compelled to pay millions to Painter, and then millions more in damages. If he can’t get his temper tantrum under control quickly, this only gets worse for O’Reilly.

commented 2017-10-27 18:57:55 -0400 · Flag

20th Century Rupert is paying O’Lielly’s settlements, so what does BillO the Clown care, right?

commented 2017-10-27 18:21:19 -0400 · Flag

This is obviously a SLAPP suit. O’Reilly got the idea from Eric Bolling’s try at it three months ago. O’Reilly’s intention is to scare anyone else away from going public. What O’Reilly isn’t considering is that his defendant will immediately countersue him, as Yashar Ali did Bolling, and the result would be O’Reilly paying out another humiliating settlement. Hopefully, he calms down and stops this nonsense before this one costs him.