--- title: Stephen Colbert Rips Into Bill O'Reilly Over Settlement description: Stephen Colbert tore into Bill O'Reilly following the report that he reached a $32 million sexual harassment settlement with a former Fox legal analyst. canonical: https://time.com/4994801/stephen-colbert-bill-o-reilly-sexual-harassment-settlement/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-24T15:37:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:14.351Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Rips Into Bill O'Reilly Over $32 Million Sexual Harassment Settlement og:description: "[It's] exactly the sort of thing you do when you’re innocent" og:url: https://time.com/4994801/stephen-colbert-bill-o-reilly-sexual-harassment-settlement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd3e9dba0f051b9/6988e31e4ee26239cb30f83a/screen-shot-2017-10-24-at-10-12-25-am.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Stephen-Colbert-Bill-O-Reilly-Settlement og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Rips Into Bill O'Reilly Over $32 Million Sexual Harassment Settlement twitter:description: "[It's] exactly the sort of thing you do when you’re innocent" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd3e9dba0f051b9/6988e31e4ee26239cb30f83a/screen-shot-2017-10-24-at-10-12-25-am.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Dubs Bill O'Reilly's $32 Million Settlement 'Exactly the Sort of Thing You Do When You’re Innocent'  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 24, 2017 3:37 PM UTC  CBS  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 24, 2017 3:37 PM UTC Following the [_New York Times_ report](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/21/business/media/bill-oreilly-sexual-harassment.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FO%27Reilly%2C%20Bill&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream%5Funit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection) that Fox News [renewed Bill O’Reilly’s contract](http://time.com/4992541/fox-news-renewed-bill-oreilly-contract/) in January despite knowing he had reached a $32 million[ sexual harassment settlement](http://time.com/4747075/bill-oreilly-fox-news-sexual-harassment-accusations/) with former Fox legal analyst Lis Wiehl, Stephen Colbert tore into the TV host. “We’re in, sadly, the midst of a flurry of sexual harassment and assault allegations against some pretty big names in showbiz. Producers like [Harvey Weinstein](http://time.com/4993360/matt-damon-george-clooney-harvey-weinstein/), directors like [James Toback](http://time.com/4992715/james-toback-sexual-harassment-claims/), even former reality-show hosts,” Colbert said as a picture of President Donald Trump flashed onscreen during Monday’s episode of _The Late Show_. “And of course, former Fox News pundit…Bill O’Reilly. We already knew that O’Reilly had previously settled five sexual harassment claims. Now, it has come out that it’s an even half-dozen because it’s being reported that back in January, O’Reilly made yet another payout to a woman alleging sexual harassment. This one for a record $32 million, which is exactly the sort of thing you do when you’re innocent.” Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4994801/stephen-colbert-bill-o-reilly-sexual-harassment-settlement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4994801/stephen-colbert-bill-o-reilly-sexual-harassment-settlement/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Dubs Bill O'Reilly's $32 Million Settlement 'Exactly the Sort of Thing You Do When You’re Innocent'","datePublished":"2017-10-24T15:37:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:14.351Z","description":"O'Reilly had previously settled five sexual harassment claims","url":"https://time.com/4994801/stephen-colbert-bill-o-reilly-sexual-harassment-settlement/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","TV","Late Night Television","bill o'reilly"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd3e9dba0f051b9/6988e31e4ee26239cb30f83a/screen-shot-2017-10-24-at-10-12-25-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fd3e9dba0f051b9/6988e31e4ee26239cb30f83a/screen-shot-2017-10-24-at-10-12-25-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stephen-Colbert-Bill-O-Reilly-Settlement","caption":"","creditText":"CBS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4994801/stephen-colbert-bill-o-reilly-sexual-harassment-settlement/","name":"Stephen Colbert Dubs Bill O'Reilly's $32 Million Settlement 'Exactly the Sort of Thing You Do When You’re Innocent'"}}]}] ```