Fox News offered Bill O'Reilly a $25 million contract even though O'Reilly had agreed to settle a sexual harassment claim for $32 million, according to The New York Times.
The Times reported that O'Reilly settled out of court with former Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl just months before he was dismissed from the network.
O'Reilly categorized the Times piece as a "smear article" about him and defended himself on his website.
"In its latest diatribe against Bill O'Reilly, the Times printed leaked information provided by anonymous sources that is out of context, false, defamatory, and obviously designed to embarrass Bill O'Reilly and to keep him from competing in the marketplace," a statement on O'Reilly's website said.
“In the more than 20 years Bill O’Reilly worked at Fox News, not one complaint was filed against him with the human resources department or legal department by a coworker, even on the anonymous hotline,” the statement continued.
"The New York Times has copies of two letters written by 21st Century Fox lawyers attesting to that fact."
After O’Reilly tweeted a link to his post, former “Fox & Friends” host Carlson responded.
“Nobody pays $32 million for false allegations – nobody,” Carlson wrote.
Carlson settled out of court in 2016, after she left Fox News amid her own allegations of sexual harassment against then chiarmen Roger Ailes.
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