Bill O’Reilly, the long-time Fox News talking head, has not been heard from since he left on his vacation to the Vatican during which he was terminated from his show in connection with accusations of sexual harassment of female staffers and guests. O’Reilly recently granted an interview with Glenn Beck, a talk radio and Internet media mogul who had a show on Fox News several years ago. According to the Hollywood Reporter, O’Reilly vowed legal action against a “left-wing cabal” he says was behind the accusations and his subsequent dismissals.
The fall of Bill O’Reilly
O’Reilly’s show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” started when Fox News did in the late 1990s. By the early 21st Century, the Factor dominated prime time cable news. O’Reilly’s style of acerbic commentary and confrontational interviewing appealed to FNC’s audience over the years
Rumors had swirled about some unsavory aspects of the breakup of O’Reilly’s marriage and incidents with women on the FNC staff or who were guests on his program for years. The stories became viral when it was revealed that Fox News had paid several women who had filed sexual harassment suits against O’Reilly. O’Reilly has denied all of the charges and claims that the settlements were done to avoid lengthy litigation that would have wrought harm to his reputation.
However, when the stories began to circulate in the media early in 2017, they took place in the context of what happened with FNC’s former president, Roger Ailes, who was also accused of being a serial sexual harasser and was subsequently let go. Sponsors for “The O’Reilly Factor” were also bailing in droves. Fox News conducted an investigation and, when O’Reilly was off the air in Europe, made the decision to let him go.
The Fox News primetime lineup, lacking O’Reilly for the first time in decades, was been revamped, with Tucker Carlson taking his old time slot.
How would O’Reilly take revenge?
O’Reilly claims that he is the target of an organized effort to drive him and similar conservatives off the air. Such an effort does exist, with liberal groups campaigning to get conservative hosts fired for one reason or another.
That doesn’t mean that O’Reilly is innocent of what he has been alleged of doing. It doesn’t mean that he’s guilty either.
The former Fox News host has referenced George Soros, the Hungarian billionaire who has funded a great many liberal causes, including campaigns aimed at conservative media. O’Reilly told Beck that he and his lawyers are gathering information and will take some kind of legal action in due course. In any case, Bill O’Reilly’s story is not quite done.
