O’Reilly’s departure comes nine months after Fox News founder Roger Ailes was forced out as chairman following a sexual harassment lawsuit by former host Gretchen Carlson and allegations by at least a half-dozen women, all of which he denied.
In April 2017, The New York Times reported that Fox News and O'Reilly had settled five lawsuits involving women who accused O'Reilly of misconduct.
"Bill O'Reilly accused of choking his ex-wife, dragging her down the stairs". Business Insider UK. ^ Blyers, Dylan (May 18, 2015). "Bill O'Reilly: Domestic abuse allegation '100% false ' ". Politico.
O’Reilly has survived controversial episodes in the past. One of the settlements cited by the Times drew extensive publicity in 2004, when one of his former producers, Andrea Mackris, accused him of sexually explicit phone calls. O’Reilly countersued before both sides settled the case.
She has alleged she was fired in retaliation for declining the sexual advances of former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. In the interview, Carlson said her former news network and other conservative media had devolved, from calling unwelcome news “fake” to questioning science during the pandemic.
She was the anchor of WNYW Fox 5s Good Day Wake Up, with Co-Anchor Ben Simmoneau and a fill-in Reporter for Good Day New York in New York City, until September 2016, announcing her departure.
On April 19, 2017, Fox News announced that O'Reilly would not return to their primetime lineup amid public reporting on the tens of millions of dollars he paid to settle the sexual harassment claims of six women. The show continued, rebranded as The Factor, now hosted by Dana Perino.
Madeline O'ReillyBill O'Reilly / Daughter
Doug BarrettJuliet Huddy / Spouse (m. 2009–2009)
In January 2022, The Five announced Jeanine Pirro would be named co-host of the program along with rotating liberal co-hosts Geraldo Rivera, Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr.
Bill O'Reillym. 1996–2011Jeffrey GrossMaureen E. McPhilmy/Spouse
56Â years (May 11, 1966)Maureen E. McPhilmy / Age
$65 millionOn July 21, 2016, Ailes resigned from Fox News, receiving $65 million from 21st Century Fox (the then-parent company of 20th Century Fox and Fox News) in an exit agreement. Rupert Murdoch succeeded him as chairman, and as interim CEO until the naming of a permanent replacement.
Madeline O'ReillySpencer O'ReillyBill O'Reilly/Children
Maureen E. McPhilmyBill O'Reilly / Wife (m. 1996–2011)
About 19Â years (2003)Spencer O'Reilly / Age
O’Reilly’s lawyer Andrew Bourne said in a statement: “Mr. O’Reilly has drawn the line.
A A. Veteran broadcaster Bill O’Reilly scored a major victory in U.S. District Court in Manhattan this week as a judge threw out a defamation lawsuit filed against him by a disgruntled ex-TV producer. Judge Deborah Batts on Thursday dismissed former Fox News producer Rachel Bernstein’s suit which claimed O’Reilly – forced out at Fox News ...
Judge Deborah Batts on Thursday dismissed former Fox News producer Rachel Bernstein’s suit which claimed O’Reilly – forced out at Fox News after allegations by several women including Bernstein – made 12 defamatory statements about her in the media.
In its investigation, the Times also reported a claim by former O'Reilly Factor guest Wendy Walsh, who, she alleged, declined an offer from O'Reilly to go to his hotel suite in 2013.
In 2016, according reporting by the Times, lawyers for Laurie Dhue, a Fox News anchor from 2000 to 2008, went to the company to outline harassment claims against O’Reilly as well as against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, who also was accused of harassment by several other women and who left the network in the same year. The case was settled for more than $1 million, a person briefed on the agreement told the Times.
In October 2004, O'Reilly, who had been at Fox News since 1996, was sued publicly for sexual harassment by 33-year-old Andrea Mackris, a former producer for The O'Reilly Factor. According to the Times , Mackris recorded some explicit conversations with O'Reilly, people familiar with the events told the paper. The case, which included a $60 million countersuit that alleged “scandalous and scurrilous” extortion, was fought out in the media for about two weeks before O’Reilly agreed to pay Mackris about $9 million, according to people briefed on the agreement who were interviewed by the Times.
According to current and former employees interviewed by the Times, O’Reilly stormed into the Fox newsroom and screamed at a young producer. Not long after, the Times reported, the woman, Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, left the network with a payout. The case did not involve sexual harassment, the paper said. As part of the deal, Bernstein was subject to a confidentiality agreement.
After revelations of a series of settlements with female employees of the network who accused him of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior , Bill O'Reilly and 21st Century Fox have parted ways.
O’Reilly’s departure comes nine months after Fox News founder Roger Ailes was forced out as chairman following a sexual harassment lawsuit by former host Gretchen Carlson and allegations by at least a half-dozen women, all of which he denied.
Fox News is cutting ties with Bill O’Reilly, the biggest star in its 20-year history, after mounting allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior prompted the network to end his program.
Starting Monday, Fox will air Tucker Carlson’s show an hour earlier, in O’Reilly’s 8 p.m. ET slot, and move the popular ensemble show “The Five” from 5 to 9 p.m. On May 1, “Five” member Eric Bolling will debut a one-hour program at 5 p.m., and Martha MacCallum will make her “First 100 Days” show permanent at 7 p.m.
But the climate shifted dramatically after The New York Times reported on April 1 that O’Reilly or Fox had paid $13 million to settle five cases against him alleging sexual or other harassment.
The “O’Reilly Factor” has spawned a cottage industry, with the host, who was part of the channel’s original lineup in 1996, producing a slew of best-selling books and finding himself in demand for lucrative speaking engagements.
Most of his positions were conservative, and he maintained a cordial relationship with President Trump after having been consistently tough on President Obama. But O’Reilly styled himself an independent, sometimes took moderate stances and supported Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative aimed at helping black youth.
In October 1996, O'Reilly was hired by Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the then startup Fox News Channel, to anchor The O'Reilly Report. The show was renamed The O'Reilly Factor after his friend and branding expert John Tantillo 's remarks upon the "O'Reilly Factor" in any of the stories he told. The program was routinely the highest-rated show of the three major U.S. 24-hour cable news television channels and began the trend toward more opinion-oriented prime-time cable news programming. The show was taped late in the afternoon at a studio in New York City and aired every weekday on the Fox News Channel at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and was rebroadcast at 11:00 p.m.
He discontinued the column at the end of 2013.
O'Reilly claimed that Mackris had threatened a lawsuit unless he paid her more than $60 million. Later the same day, Mackris sued O'Reilly for sexual harassment, seeking $60 million in damages. Her complaint alleged that O'Reilly called her engaging in a crude phone conversation. On October 28, 2004, O'Reilly and Mackris reached an out-of-court settlement in which Mackris dropped her sexual-assault suit against O'Reilly and O'Reilly dropped his extortion claim against Mackris. The terms of the agreement are confidential, but in 2017 The New York Times reported that O'Reilly had agreed to pay Mackris about $9 million and that they would issue a public statement that there had been "no wrongdoing whatsoever."
After the September 11 attacks, O'Reilly accused the United Way of America and American Red Cross of failing to deliver millions of dollars in donated money, raised by the organizations in the name of the disaster, to the families of those killed in the attacks.
O'Reilly launched a podcast called No Spin News on April 24, 2017 , after his departure from Fox News. In August 2017 , O'Reilly began digitally streaming a video version of No Spin News. In May 2017, O'Reilly began to appear as a recurring guest on Friday editions of the Glenn Beck Radio Program. In June 2017 , O'Reilly and Dennis Miller co-headlined the public speaking tour, "The Spin Stops Here."
In his bestselling 2013 book Killing Kennedy and on Fox and Friends, O'Reilly claimed he was knocking at the front door of George de Mohrenschildt 's daughter's home at the moment Mohrenschildt committed suicide and that he heard the shotgun blast:
In 2011, Stewart described O'Reilly as "the voice of reason on Fox News ", comparing him to "the thinnest kid at fat camp". In 2012, Stewart joined O'Reilly in a debate for charity entitled, The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium at George Washington University.
The network gave her an unspecified payout when she left Fox News, in 2002. Before those revelations, Fox News executives appeared untroubled by the accusations against O’Reilly. The network re-signed him to a lucrative contract in March.
Social media and liberal organizations have brought pressure to bear on the companies that continued to air ads during his program, and Fox News headquarters in Midtown Manhattan has been beset by on-site protests. Bill O’Reilly appears on The O’Reilly Factor on 18 January 2007. Photograph: Jeff Christensen/AP.
The O’Reilly Factor was recently attracting four million viewers a night, a record for cable news, and anchoring its primetime lineup. Its other brightest star, Megyn Kelly, quit amid the Ailes fiasco, having also accused the then Fox News chief of harassment. O’Reilly has helped Fox News reach record viewers and profits.
O’Reilly’s demise began on 1 April, when the New York Times revealed the existence of several secret settlements with women who accused O’Reilly of verbal or sexual harassment. In the weeks following, 21st Century Fox faced growing pressure to remove O’Reilly from fleeing advertisers and liberal groups that organized protests at ...
In the years that he anchored Fox News’ top-rated primetime show, O’Reilly had been publicly accused multiple times of sexual harassment, and family court records disclosed by Gawker uncovered testimony that he had violently abused his ex-wife, claims O’Reilly called “100% false”.
But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today.”. Marc E Kasowitz, a lawyer for the former Fox News star, said in a statement on Monday that his client “has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America”.
Read more. And that wasn’t all. According to the former host, Andrea Tantaros, Fox News executives not only knew about the misconduct, they acted aggressively to stifle her complaints. Six months later and Tantaros’ accusations, which Fox News, Ailes and O’Reilly deny, have foreshadowed the contours of the O’Reilly Factor host’s downfall.