As of Tuesday afternoon, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Hyundai, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Consumer Care, Constant Contact, UNTUCKit, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, T. Rowe Price, Credit Karma and Allstate had pulled their ads from the popular "O'Reilly Factor" show.
Over the weekend, the New York Times revealed that the network and O’Reilly have paid over $13 million in settlements to five women who claimed to have been sexually harassed by the host.
"In light of the recent New York Times investigation, BMW of North America has suspended its advertising with 'The O'Reilly Factor,'" a BMW spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
O’Reilly has denied the claims of sexual harassment, but did not deny paying the settlements — stating that he did so to "put to rest any controversies to spare my children."
On Monday, Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky also filed a lawsuit against the network, claiming that she was offered a promotion to be a regular host of the show The Five — but only if she would have sex with former network president Roger Ailes.
Roginsky joined a growing list of women who have all made the same claims, including Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson. Ailes is currently the target of a $30 million lawsuit by former contributor Andrea Tantaros, who described Fox News as a “sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult.”
The network is also facing a racial discrimination lawsuit, which a third black Fox News employee joined on Tuesday. The lawsuit claims that there is “top-down racial harassment” in the payroll department.
Fox News’ manager for credit collectors, Monica Douglas, claims that she was subjected to racist comments for years, and that network executives knew, but ignored it.
Douglas claims in the lawsuit that former comptroller Judy Slater expressed “an unwillingness to even be near black people.” The lawsuit also claims that Slater frequently made fun of Douglas for only having one breast, due to her battle with cancer.
Slater was fired from the network last month, and the network issued a statement saying that they “took the appropriate action in investigating and firing Ms. Slater within two weeks of this being brought to our attention.”
