Bill O’Reilly picked a bad week to make a racist, sexist attack on Rep. Maxine Waters. Because just as a(nother) very bright spotlight was thrown on his racist, sexist behavior, The New York Times has come up with a firebomb of a report that reveals O’Reilly’s abuse of women is worse than we knew. And it looks like there's more to come.

From the Times:

An investigation by The New York Times has found a total of five women who have received payouts from either Mr. O’Reilly or the company in exchange for agreeing to not pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him. The agreements totaled about $13 million.

Two settlements came after the network’s former chairman, Roger Ailes, was dismissed last summer in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, when the company said it did not tolerate behavior that “disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment.”

The women who made allegations against Mr. O’Reilly either worked for him or appeared on his show. They have complained about a wide range of behavior, including verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and phone calls in which it sounded as if Mr. O’Reilly was masturbating, according to documents and interviews.

The reporting suggests a pattern: As an influential figure in the newsroom, Mr. O’Reilly would create a bond with some women by offering advice and promising to help them professionally. He then would pursue sexual relationships with them, causing some to fear that if they rebuffed him, their careers would stall.

Of the five settlements, two were previously known — one for about $9 million in 2004 with a producer, and another struck last year with a former on-air personality, which The Times reported on in January. The Times has learned new details related to those cases.

The two we already knew about were Andrea Mackris and Juliet Huddy. The three additional women were a junior producer named Rachel Witlieb Bernstein (O’Reilly verbally abused her), former Fox Business host Rebecca Gomez Diamond and former anchor Laurie Dhue. The Times also spoke with Wendy Walsh, formerly a regular O'Reilly Factor guest. She claimed O’Reilly dangled a contributor contract that never materialized after she rebuffed his advances. And, of course, there’s Andrea Tantaros.

The details are disturbing and fascinating and I recommend the entire article.

If you’re wondering why the network hasn’t ditched O’Reilly already, the answer is almost certainly his monetary value to the network. As the Times lays out, he’s not only the biggest ratings getter, the income he generates for the corporation is growing.

As Media Matters notes, in a post published before the Times report, “There is no heir apparent.”

Also, let's not forget that O'Reilly is BFF with Donald Trump.

However, in the wake of the Roger Ailes ouster last year, you have to wonder how much longer (and how many more incidents and lawsuits) Fox will put up with.

The Times report appears to be unrelated to the Rep. Waters incident, though O’Reilly knew he was about to come under increased scrutiny. The paper reported, “Just over a week ago, Mr. O’Reilly hired the crisis communications expert Mark Fabiani.”

So O’Reilly’s attack on Waters is especially remarkable.

And in another case of unfortunate-for-Fox timing, two African American women filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company this week, too.

Meanwhile, get ready for more. Check out New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman’s tweet below.

(O’Reilly image by Nina Brodsky)