LAT20170111

BILL O’REILLYwas

accused of harassing the

network’s Juliet Huddy.

Andy KropaAssociated Press

FoxNews settledasexual

harassmentcomplaintby a

former employee in Septem-

ber against Bill O’Reilly, its

biggest prime-time star, and

Jack Abernethy, thedivi-

sion’s co-president.

FormerFox News per-

sonality Juliet Huddy

claimed ina letter from her

lawyers sent last August

thatheropportunitiesatthe

company ended in retalia-

tion for notsub mittingto

sexual advances by O’Reilly

that began in 2011. She also

said Abernethy had made

unwanted advancestoward

her.

No lawsuit was filed

against O’Reilly or Aber-

nethy, whowas promoted to

his post inAugust after the

letter was received andwas

signedto a long-term con-

tract following the settle-

ment payment made in Sep-

tember. The agreementwas

first reported on thewebsite

Lawnewz.com.

The settlement shows

the sexual harassment issue

continues to shadow Fox

Newsevenaftertheousterof

former Chairman Roger

Ailes,whowas accused of

sexual harassment ina law-

suit by former anchor

Gretchen Carlson.

The suit prompted21st

Cen tury Fox to launch an

internal investigation into

Ailes’conducttoward Carl-

son and otherwomen at Fox

News, including Megyn

Kelly, the popular anchor

whorecently announced her

move to NBC.

The cable newsjugger-

naut settled that lawsuit in

September witha $20-mil-

lion payment to Carlson.

But otherwomen have come

forward with allegations,

suggesting that sexually in-

appropriate behavior had

beenrooted in thecultur e of

the company.

Huddyreceived a six-fig-

ure monetary settlement

from the company inreturn

for agreeing notto file suit,

according to peoplefamiliar

with thediscussions but not

authorizedto comment.Fox

News denied the claims

against O’Reilly and Aber-

nethy.

“Juliet Huddy’s letter of

intentto sue contained sub-

stantial falsehoods which

both menvehemently de-

nied,” a statementfrom Fox

News said.

Attorneys for Huddy

could not be reached for

comment.

O’Reilly, 67, is thetop-

rated personality in allof ca-

ble news. His 8 p.m.Eastern

time program“The O’Reilly

Factor” is thetent pole for

the network’s prime-time

lineup. Hiscurrentcontract

withFox News expires this

year.

Huddyfirst joinedFox

News in1998.She wasthe co-

host ofa Fox syndicated talk

show that aired on broad-

cast stations in 2007 and in

2011 went onto appearregu-

larly on “The O’ReillyFac-

tor”segments.

Huddy claimed that

O’Reilly propositioned her

on numerous occasions and

triedtokissherduringavisit

to his home inManhasset,

N.Y. Theletteralsodescribes

other occasions when he

allegedly repeatedly at-

temptedto get Huddyto

have sex with him.

After rebuffing O’Reilly,

Huddy said she was not

askedto appear on his pro-

gram — which is so popular

it has served as a spring-

board for other on-air talent

at Fox. Shewas eventually

assignedto apredawnnews-

cast on the localNew York

Fox TV station WNYW. She

remained in that position

until last September.

Huddy is the daughter of

John Huddy, a formerFox

News consultant and close

longtime associate to Ailes.

John Huddywas among a

group of Ailes’loyalists who

werepurged from Fox News

shortly after the executive’s

exit.

The incident with Huddy

is not the first time that Fox

News has settleda sexual

harassmentcharge against

O’Reilly. In October 2004,

O’Reillywas sued bya for-

mer associate producer, An-

dreaMackris, who said he

initiated phone sex and

regularly used lewd lan-

guage with her atworkand

in dinner conversations.

O’Reilly countersued and

calledMackris’ allegations a

“shakedown.”A settlement

was reached hours before a

scheduledcourt hearing on

evidenceinthecasethatwas

said to include tapes of

O’Reilly’s lurid phone calls.

stephen.battaglio

@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio

Fox News settles sexual harassment claim

ByStephen Battaglio

LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS WEDNESDAY,JANUARY11, 2017 C3

COMPANY TOWN

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Radical Media

Television

Overall shoot days weredown 31% last weekfor TV,film and

commercialshootsinthe LosAngeles area compared with the

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ThomasSuhLauderLos Angeles Times

Note: Permits are subject to

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Production days for three main categories

Sampling of permitted shoots this week

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Television Features Commercials

Commercials

Features

5

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LOSANGELESCOUNTY

101

Los Angeles

60

118

710

605

14

Wherethecamerasroll

“Patriots Day,”the new

Mark Wahlberg movieabout

the 2013 BostonMarathon

bombing, will battle space-

race drama “Hidden Fig-

ures” for thetop spoton the

box-officecharts this holi-

day weekend.

But both will face heavy

competitionfrom Oscar fa-

vorite “La La Land” as the

modern-day musical triesto

convert critical accolades

into commercial success.

Produced by CBS Films

and distributed byLions-

gate , “Patriots Day” is ex-

pectedto gross a Boston-

strong$18 millionto $20 mil-

lion at domestic theaters

Friday through Monday

during the longMartin Lu-

ther King Jr. weekend, ac-

cording to people who have

read pre-release audience

surveys.

“Patriots Day,” which fol-

lows the fatal bombing itself

and the ensuing manhunt, is

the latestcollaboration be-

tween Wahlberg and direc-

tor Peter Berg, who also

madethe2013 heartlandmil-

itary hit “Lone Survivor”

and lastyear’s oil-spill disas-

ter movie, “Deepwater Hori-

zon.” The new movie has

playedwell in limitedrelease

since its Dec.21 debut, scor-

ing$870,000fromseventhea-

ters in Los Angeles, New

York and Boston. Thefilm

cost $40 millionto make,

countinga production re-

bate.

It should defeat a cropof

newcomers including Ben

Affleck’s “Liv e by Night” and

horrorflick “The Bye Bye

Man.” However, it remains

to be seen if it can beat a

strong lineup of holdovers.

“La La Land,”from Li-

onsgate, isexpectedto get a

boostfromitsrecord-setting

seven Golden GlobeAwards

wins Sunday night as itex-

pandsto more theaters, in-

cluding100 Imax screens.

The feel-good Los Angeles-

set musical, starring Ryan

Gosling and Emma Stone,

has grosse d $51.8 million so

far in theU.S. and Canada.

Additionally, “Hidden

Figures,” from 20th Century

Fox and Chernin Entertain-

ment, should continueto

pull audiences into theaters

withits uplifting true story

about African American fe-

male mathematicians and

engineerswhohelpedNASA

get the first Americans into

space. It opened wide with

$22. 8 million lastweekend,

narrowly defeating “Rogue

One:A StarWars Story.”

“Rogue One”from Lu-

casfilm-Disney will alsore-

maina player, addingto its

$477-milliontotal. Thefilm

will soon pass “Finding Do-

ry’s” $486-milliondomestic

tallyto becomethe hig hest-

grossing blockbuster of 2016.

“Liv e by Night,” written,

directedby and starring Af-

fleck, willexpand nation-

wideFri day after its limited

run. Based ona novel by

Dennis Lehane, theWarner

Bros. Pictures Prohibition-

era crime thriller could

swipe about$10 million dur-

ing the four-dayweekend.

“Liv e by Night,” which cost

an estimated $65 mill ion to

make, hasbeen hampered

by poorreviews.

“The Bye Bye Man,” the

latestfrom STX Entertain-

ment, follows agroup ofcol-

lege friends who must face

an unspeakableevil. Target-

ing the Friday the13th re-

lease date, the$7.4-million

supernatural thriller isex-

pectedto open withroughly

$10 million in ticket sales.

“Sleepless,” a JamieFoxx

cri me thrillerfrom Open

Road Films, should also

land closeto $10 million.

Paramount Pictures will

field two very differentfilms

during the holiday frame:

Martin Scorsese’s long-

awaitedreligious epic “Si-

lence”andkids’movie“Mon-

ster Trucks.”

“Silence,”about two17 th-

century priests (Adam

Driver and Andrew Gar-

field) whojourneyto Japan

to find thei r mentor (Liam

Neeson),” isexpectedto ex-

pandto more than 600 thea-

ters Fridayto capitalize on

awards buzz. Itcost $45 mil-

lion to make.

Paramount’s “Monster

Trucks”isexpectedto bethe

big flop of theweekend,giv-

en itsproductioncost. The

$125-million movieabout a

teenager whose truck is in-

habitedby a tentacled,com-

puter-animated monster, is

headed fora weak $8-million

to $10-million debut. Via-

com, the studio’s parent

company, has already an-

nounced that it will take a

$115-million write-down for a

movie widely thought to be

“Monster Trucks.”

ryan.faughnder

@latimes.com

RYAN GOSLINGand Emma Stone star in “LaLa Land.” The Los Angeles-setmusical is expected toget a
boost from its record-setting seven GoldenGlobe Awards wins as it expands to more theaters thisweekend.

Dale Robinette

MOVIE PROJECTOR

‘Patriots Day,’ ‘Hidden

Figures’ vs. ‘La La Land’

TheMarkWahlberg

film will battle the

space-race drama and

modern-day musical.

ByRyanFaughnder

Nearly fouryears after
American HondaMotor Co.
yan ked its media planning
business from advertising
agency RPA, thecar com-
pany is shiftinggears again
by returning thecove ted ac-
count to its longtime part-
ner.
Late lastweek, Hondare-
stored RPA, one of the larg-
estadshopsintheLosAnge-
les region, as theagency of
recordfor media planning
and ad buying for its Honda

and Acura brands.

RPA is one of the few ma-

jor ad agenciesthatremains

independentratherthanbe-

ing a division of a large hold-

ing company. The Santa

Monicafirm isexpectedto

boost its staff by about 100

peopleto workontheHonda

media planning account.

RPA currently employs

about550 people andalso

handles ads forSouthwest

Airlines, the AM/PMcon-

veniencestore chain,Far-

mer’s Insurance andLa-Z-

Boy.

American Honda, based

in Torrance, said RPA will

replace theNew York buying

firm MediaVest in April.Me-

diaVest had scooped up the

Honda account in 2013 fol-

lowing a high-profile agency

review, which deal t a heart-

breaking lossto RPA. The

Honda account covers

about $600 million in annual

ad spending.

AMediaVest spokesman

declinedto commentMon-

day.

RPA —which formed in

1986 as Rubin Postaer & As-

sociatesto handle Honda’s

advertising needs — has

continuously held Honda’s

separate creative advertis-

ing account, designing and

producing commercial

spotsanddigitaladvertising

for the Honda brand.

RPA is working ona Su-

per Bowl spot for Honda’s

CR-V vehicle.

“In a media landscape

that is increasinglycontent,

social and data drivenwe

madea decisionto return to

amore consolidated struc-

ture,” Tom Peyton, Honda’s

vicepresident of national

marketingope rations, said

in a statement announcing

the switch. “We expect to re-

alizeeven greatereffective-

ness withan a gency placing

content it creates.”

Another agency, Mullen,

will continueto create ads

for the Acura line.Boston-

based MullenLowe landed

the Acuracrea tive account

in 2013, and then opened an

El Segundo office.

“This move speaks to the

shift toward agency re-

bundling, and RPA’s ability

as an i ndependent,holistic

agencyto align strategy, cre-

ative, media and production

(including digital) all under

oneroof,” Bill Hagelstein,

chief executive of RPA, said

in a statement.

Honda’s decisionrepre-

sents another big loss for

MediaVest, which is part of

the Paris-based advertising

holdinggiant Publicis.Last

year, the firm lost theWal-

Mart ad-buying account.

MediaVest has picked up

several smaller accounts, in-

cluding media planning for

USAA insurancecompany

and Viacom Inc.’s MTV net-

works.

[email protected]

ByMegJames

Ad agency RPA wins backHonda account and isexpectedto hire100 workers