Former FOX News host Bill O'Reilly was granted a restraining order against the woman who accused him of sexual harassment in 2004, after she broke her $9million settlement earlier this month by sharing her allegations against him.
Andrea Mackris, 50, agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of the 2004 settlement, barring her from discussing O'Reilly's alleged sexual assault.
But earlier this month, she broke her silence, detailing in a lengthy interview with the Daily Beast, detailing the alleged harassment she faced when she worked as a producer on O'Reilly's show for four years.
She was scheduled to discuss the case further on 'The View' Wednesday, but on Tuesday evening, O'Reilly was granted a temporary restraining order against her, effectively blocking her from appearing on the show.
'We were notified late yesterday about a temporary restraining order issued by a court against Andrea Mackris,' an ABC spokesperson said in a statement to the Daily Beast Wednesday morning.
'We decided to postpone her interview pending further developments. We look forward to welcoming her to The View at a later date.'
Andrea Mackris spoke up after nearly 20 years on July 13 about the alleged sexual harassment she faced while working as a producer for Bill O'Reilly, despite signing a non-disclosure agreement about the accusations in 2004
She was scheduled to discuss these claims on an episode of The View on Wednesday
The Daily Beast reports that O'Reilly's attorneys petitioned the New York Supreme Court in Nassau County for a restraining order after learning that she was scheduled to appear on the daytime talk show.
In court documents obtained by the Daily Beast, O'Reilly's attorneys argued that 'Mackris intends to further materially breach her legal obligations tomorrow morning, live on national television.'
They said that by going public with O'Reilly's alleged misconduct, she has caused him 'significant irreplaceable harm.'
A Nassau County Supreme Court judge granted the order Tuesday night, with O'Reilly's attorneys telling the Daily Beast that the court 'issued an order restraining Ms. Mackris from further violation of the Settlement Agreement with Mr. O'Reilly, after learning of the Daily Beast interview with Ms. Mackris and its follow-up podcast.'
They noted that 'a federal court had determined the Settlement Agreement was valid and enforceable [and] Ms. Mackris cannot unilaterally decide that she no longer wants to honor its terms without consequences.'
They also added that Disney, the parent company to ABC, 'did the right thing by cancelling Ms. Mackris' planned appearance on The View.'
O'Reilly's attorneys reportedly asked the Daily Beast to forward the court documents to Mackris, it reports, but the court denied the request, saying the attorneys must notify her themselves.
By Wednesday morning, though, Mackris said she still had 'not been served with anything, but apparently Bill O'Reilly was able to interfere with my appearance on The View.
'I hope the days of the law allowing the silencing of women are over,' she continued. 'I will continue to fight for my voice.'
After learning about her scheduled appearance, the former FOX News host petitioned the New York State Supreme Court for a restraining order against Mackris, which was granted on Tuesday night and barred her from appearing on the show
Mackris went public with the alleged abuse she faced while working as a producer on O'Reilly's show two decades earlier, on July 13 this year, saying she was pressured into signing the NDA and that she has lost everything since.
Speaking out after all this time, she said, was her way of retrieving 'my power from this storm of lies, loss, greed and grief.'
In response, O'Reilly's attorney Fredric S. Newman pointed to the public statement she issued in 2004 in which she said 'there was no wrongdoing whatsoever by Mr. O'Reilly'.
Mackris had sued the former FOX News host in 2004, claiming her would call her late at night while masturbating and demanding phone sex.
The lawsuit reportedly included recordings of the calls, in which he allegedly shared his sexual fantasies - including how he wanted to do a 'loofah thing' on her in the shower, which he mistakenly called a 'falafel.'
She said she decided to take legal action after receiving one of those phone calls, in which she claims O'Reilly told her she needed to forget he was her boss.
'It's why I went to lawyers,' she said in the Daily Beast interview. 'I had to find protection. I wasn't safe at work.'
Mackris, right, had worked as a producer on Bill O'Reilly's show for four years, during which time she claimed he would call her late at night and describe his sexual fantasies about her
In the phone call, she said, 'he was describing what I could expect next... He said I would masturbate facing him as he sat on the edge of the bed, naked and masturbating.
'He said that it wouldn't be sex because we wouldn't be touching. He said I needed to suspend the fact that he was my boss. He characterized this 'little fantasy outlet' as 'healthy' for me and simply 'blowing off steam.' He said it would keep me in traction for the next guy I dated. He made it sound as if he would be doing me a favor.
'He always wanted me to join him in masturbating on the phone. I never did. He mocked my lack of participation as 'hibernation' and 'celibacy.' Once again, like every other time, I asked him why he continued to do this when I only ever said 'No' and 'Please stop' and 'You're my boss.'
'I was trying to snap him out of it, I was thinking that it would click for him one of these times how wrong this was. I wanted very badly for him to stop and I made that abundantly clear.
'Instead, he said, 'I know, but I'm going to make you play.' 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. And he said it with a low, dark growl, 'I know, but I'm going to make you play,' like a voice that comes from under the ground, a place that's red hot and full of hurt. That's what his words felt like as they landed in my body. The voice of the Devil, pacing and hungry for more of what is not his to take.
'I went to lawyers after that phone call. I stood up to Bill O'Reilly's sexual abuse in the workplace alone. And for that I lost everything I ever was and ever hoped to be.'
Mackris, who moved back to her native St. Louis, Missouri in the aftermath, says she is still alarmed by the experience, which was covered widely in the media at the time.
She said she felt pressured to sign the NDA as part of the settlement, which she claims allowed O'Reilly to paint her as a liar when he went on air declaring there was 'no wrongdoing in the case whatsoever by anyone'.
'By the end of it, I felt that my a** had been so thoroughly handed to me as a fat, unattractive, liar, opportunist sl*t and my profession had printed that everywhere,' she said of the media coverage of her lawsuit.
She filed a lawsuit against O'Reilly in 2004, which garnered a lot of media attention at the time. She is seen here leaving ABC Studios in New York with her attorney after appearing on Good Morning America to discuss the lawsuit in October 2004
After the lawsuit was settled, O'Reilly continued to work at Fox News until he was fired in 2017.
He was ousted after it was made public that he had paid $13 million to five women, including Mackris, over the years regarding sexual harassment allegations.
'I may not get the past 17 years back but there is one way I can retrieve my power from this storm of lies, loss, greed and grief. It's the same thing I did back in 2004 before Fox, Bill O'Reilly and their teams of willing executioners bound me to a contract that promises to ruin whatever is left of me if I dare do it again. Tell the truth. Walk free,' Mackris said.
FOX News issued a statement saying: 'The claims outlined in this report took place under the leadership of Roger Ailes, who along with Bill O’Reilly and the management referred to here, have been long gone from the network.
'Since the summer of 2016, FOX News has worked tirelessly to transform the company culture, including naming a new chief executive, tripling the size of our HR footprint, designating a new senior leadership team predominantly comprised of women and establishing a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.
'We have also instituted mandatory in-person, live harassment prevention training, designated multiple avenues to report ‘concerning behavior’ including an anonymous alert line, enhanced company-wide communication with quarterly company meetings and mentoring events, as well as implemented a zero tolerance policy regarding workplace misconduct of any kind for which we engage outside independent firms to handle all investigations.'
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