The New York Times previously reported that Bill O’Reilly, at the time the leading anchor in Fox News’ prime-time lineup, had settled five separate claims of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. | Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File Two more women sue Bill O'Reilly, alleging defamation 
 
 A defamation lawsuit against Bill O’Reilly and Fox News gained two complainants on Wednesday after a representative for former network staffers said they had been “smeared with lies by a bully who thinks that his victims are afraid to answer to them.” 
 
 Andrea Mackris, a former Fox News producer, and Rebecca Gomez Diamond, a Fox Business Network host, joined a motion filed earlier this month by Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, another former network staffer, accusing the once-leading anchor of defaming their characters after settling past claims of inappropriate sexual behavior with them. 
 
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 “These three women seek to stop O’Reilly and Fox from continuing to bully and malign women O’Reilly abused and harassed,” Nancy Erika Smith, a legal representative for the women, said in the suit. 
 
 Mackris, who worked on O’Reilly’s Fox News program, previously sued him in 2004, alleging sexual harassment. Diamond settled allegations of harassment against O’Reilly in 2011. Bernstein, the original complainant, settled claims in 2002 that did not include sexual harassment, but says she repeatedly spoke out about his behavior to officials at the network. 
 
 A legal representative for O’Reilly disputed the claims made by the three women on Wednesday. 
 
 “The latest filing has absolutely no merit as we will show in court,” O’Reilly’s lawyer, Frederic Newman of Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, said in a statement . 
 
 “Adding more plaintiffs does not cure the deficiencies in Bernstein’s complaint,” he added. 
 
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 Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 The New York Times reported in April that O’Reilly, at the time the leading anchor in Fox News’ prime-time lineup, had settled five separate claims of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior to the tune of $13 million during his 21-year run with the network. 
 
 Fox News’ parent company. 21st Century Fox, announced less than three weeks later that after reviewing the allegations, O’Reilly would not return to the network. It was later disclosed that O’Reilly had settled a sixth claim with a network analyst for $32 million. 
 
 The agreement, struck in January, was reached six months after Fox News chief Roger Ailes was ousted over a sexual harassment scandal. Ailes died in May of this year. 
 
 O’Reilly has been effusive in his denials of the allegations, calling The Times’ reporting on the settlements “lies and smears.” 
 
 21st Century Fox’s executive co-chairman, Rupert Murdoch, said last week that the allegations of sexual misconduct at Fox News were “largely political because we are conservative.” 
 
 

 Two women who reached sexual harassment settlements with Bill O’Reilly joined a defamation lawsuit against Mr. O’Reilly and Fox News on Wednesday, asserting that statements that he and the network made depicted them as liars, political operatives and extortionists. 
 
 The women are Andrea Mackris, a former producer on Mr. O’Reilly’s show on Fox News who sued him for sexual harassment in 2004, and Rebecca Gomez Diamond, a former host on Fox Business Network who reached a settlement with Mr. O’Reilly in 2011 after coming forward with sexual harassment allegations against him. Both women had recorded conversations with Mr. O’Reilly, and he paid both settlements, according to people briefed on the matter. 
 
 They joined a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, a former Fox News employee who reached a settlement with Fox News and Mr. O’Reilly in July 2002 after she repeatedly complained about his behavior to the network’s human resources department and other executives. Ms. Bernstein is also suing for breach of contract. Her allegations did not include sexual harassment. 
 
 The New York Times reported on the settlements in April as part of an investigation that exposed how the network had stood by Mr. O’Reilly as he faced a series of harassment allegations. There now are six publicly known harassment settlements involving Mr. O’Reilly that total about $45 million. All the women involved in the settlements are bound by nondisclosure agreements. Ms. Mackris, Ms. Diamond and Ms. Bernstein said in the lawsuit that they were not the source of the information about the settlements published by The Times. 

 Two women who had previously settled sexual harassment allegations against Bill O'Reilly joined a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the former Fox News host of defamation. 
 
 The women, Rebecca Gomez Diamond and Andrea Mackris, are both former Fox News employees. They are asking for damages for emotional and reputational harm, among other things. 
 
 Diamond and Mackris are joining a lawsuit brought against O'Reilly by Rachel Witlieb Bernstein in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier this month. The women are represented by the same firm that helped former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson bring the lawsuit against former network CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes that led to his ouster. 
 
 "They are tired of being smeared with lies by a bully who thinks that his victims are afraid to answer them," Nancy Erika Smith, one of the attorneys representing the women, said in a statement. "They are standing up for the truth, joining the many voices of brave women who are no longer tolerating abuse or being silenced." 
 
 Fredric Newman, an attorney representing O'Reilly, said the suit had "no merit" and contested its underpinnings. He said O'Reilly "never mentioned any of the plaintiffs" in his public statements about the settlements he made, but said he now has "no choice but to litigate fully and aggressively." 
 
 The suit cites statements that O'Reilly has made publicly about the settlements that he, Fox News and its parent company 21st Century Fox reached with women during his time at the network. Fox News, which is named as a defendant in the suit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 O'Reilly, who denies all the allegations against him, has been on a public campaign to declare his innocence recently. 
 
 Related: Bill O'Reilly portrays himself as the victim in interview with New York Times 
 
 The lawsuit referenced a comment he gave to the New York Times, among others, for the article it published in which it revealed the history of settlements involving him. In that article, which prompted a scandal and advertiser revolt that ended with his firing, he is quoted as saying that in his more than 20 years at Fox News, "no one has ever filed a complaint about me with the Human Resources Department, even on the anonymous hotline." 
 
 "By making the repeated false statements that none of the plaintiffs (members of a small identifiable group) complained, defendants disparaged and defamed them, portraying them as liars and extortionists who have concocted complaints and never gave the company the opportunity to investigate them in a timely way," the lawsuit says. "In fact, defendant Fox News chose to get rid of women who complained about sexual harassment and insist on their silence while continuing to employe defendant O'Reilly, allowing him to continue his harassment and abuse of female employees." 
 
 Smith said through their lawsuit the women "seek to stop O'Reilly and Fox from continuing to bully and making women O'Reilly abused and harassed." 
 
 "They want to expose and stop the Fox culture of sexism and misogyny and give the victims their voices back," Smith said. "At this time in our culture women are tired of being told to shut up about abuse at the hands of men."
– Two women who previously settled sexual harassment claims against Bill O'Reilly are now suing the former Fox News host for defamation, the New York Times reports. Former Fox News employees Andrea Mackris and Rebecca Gomez Diamond have joined the defamation suit filed against O'Reilly and Fox News earlier this month by Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, another former Fox News employee who settled with O'Reilly in 2002. At issue is O'Reilly publicly saying that allegations against him are a "political and financial hit job" and that he "never mistreated anyone." That's incorrect, according to the lawsuit. "He is well aware of the irrefutable evidence of his harassment, abuse, and mistreatment," the lawsuit states. A lawyer for the three women says "they are tired of being smeared with lies by a bully." They are seeking an apology and acknowledgment of the validity of their allegations from O'Reilly, to get out of the confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses of their settlements, and damages. O'Reilly's lawyer says the lawsuit has "no merit" and that O'Reilly "never mentioned any of the plaintiffs" in his public comments, CNN reports. The women's lawsuit also names Rupert Murdoch, who in a recent interview dismissed much of the alleged sexual harassment at Fox News as "a bit of flirting." According to Politico, Murdoch also said last week that the allegations against Fox News are "largely political."