On Monday, October 23, 2017, Wigdor LLP Founding Partner Douglas Wigdor appeared on CNBC to discuss whether new revelations about the sexual harassment allegations made against former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly would impact the pending investigation by the UK Competition and Markets Authority regarding 21st Century Fox’s attempt to purchase Sky plc.
Fox is now facing additional public scrutiny after the New York Times published a report on Saturday titled, “Bill O’Reilly Settled New Harassment Claim, Then Fox Renewed His Contract”, in which reporters Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt disclosed that Mr. O’Reilly agreed to pay the “extraordinarily large amount” of $32 million to settle harassment allegations by former Fox News legal analyst, Lis Weihl.
During the segment, Mr. Wigdor described his involvement in the Fox-Sky investigation: as an employment lawyer representing 22 current and/or former employees at Fox News, he feels he has an obligation to report any relevant information to British regulators to help them conclude whether Fox is fit to purchase Sky.
According to Mr. Wigdor, there are “systematic issues from the top—from the Murdochs—down,” and the New York Times report reveals that Fox News renewed Bill O’Reilly’s contract and gave him a pay raise while simultaneously trying to convince the public that Fox had changed its leadership.