Bo Dietl Asked Guests at Geraldo Rivera’s Book Party if He Sexually Harassed Them
The former private investigator—who once said most sexual-harassment claims are “extortion”—found a joke he liked to repeat multiple times at his former Fox News colleague’s party.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast
Bo Dietl tried out a joke about sexual harassment with various guests at Geraldo Rivera’s book party on Monday evening.
The New York-cop-turned conservative political pundit was one of the high-profile guests at Del Frisco’s in Midtown Manhattan celebrating the release of Rivera’s new book The Geraldo Show: A Memoir.
Dietl worked the room, greeting famous and obscure attendees alike, occasionally dropping a version of a joke about harassment.
When he saw liberal Fox News host Juan Williams, the private eye and former Fox contributor approached him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Is that sexual harassment?” Dietl asked.
“You got me!” Williams said, laughing.
“I got you!” Dietl replied.
The former New York Republican mayoral candidate must’ve been pleased with how his joke landed because, later in the party, he tried it out again.
According to another guest, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Dietl was approached near the bar by an attendee who informed him that they were once classmates.
“Did I sexually harass you in school?” Dietl asked.
“I think I would’ve remembered,” the guest replied.
The joke is particularly odd considering Dietl’s own public remarks about sexual-harassment accusations and lawsuits.
During a 2016 interview with The Daily Beast, Dietl dismissed most harassment lawsuits as a politically correct “shakedown.” He declared that “My experience in investigating [harassment cases] is 98 percent of these are bullshit.”
“Look, if someone looks really great in a dress, and you say, ‘You look really great!’ or ‘You've been working out, you look great!’ [what’s wrong with that?]” Dietl added.
New York magazine additionally reported in 2016 that the late Fox News founder and chief Roger Ailes hired Dietl’s firm to investigate at least one person who accused former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly of sexual harassment—a claim that Dietl denied as “bullshit.”
—Andrew Kirell contributed reporting.