Bill O'Reilly out at Fox after harassment allegations
| NEW YORK
NEW YORK Twenty-First Century Fox Inc has parted ways with star cable news host Bill O'Reilly following allegations of sexual harassment, the company said on Wednesday.
“After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel,” the conservative network's parent said in a statement.
The decision, coming after advertisers had begun to flee his show, ends a more than 20-year career at Fox News for O'Reilly, a best-selling author as well as one of the most popular commentators on U.S. television.
In an internal memo to Fox News employees seen by Reuters, Rupert Murdoch called O'Reilly "one of the most accomplished TV personalities in the history of cable news."
Murdoch, who is executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox, also wrote the company is committed to "fostering a work environment built on the values of trust and respect."
O'Reilly, who has been off the air on vacation since April 11, said in a written statement he was proud of the "unprecedented success" at Fox.
"It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today," O'Reilly said in the statement, which was emailed by crisis communications expert Mark Fabiani.
O'Reilly will be replaced in his prime-time lineup by Fox host Tucker Carlson. Carlson's show had been moved earlier this year to replace "The Kelly File" with Megyn Kelly, another Fox News star who left for NBC in January.
The New York Times reported on April 1 that Fox and O'Reilly paid five women a total of $13 million to settle harassment claims. The five women who received settlements either worked for O'Reilly or appeared as guests on his program, according to the New York Times story.
O'Reilly said in a statement at the time that he had settled only to spare his children from the controversy.
O'Reilly's show, "The O'Reilly Factor," is the top-rated show on Fox News. According to ad-tracking firm Kantar Media, it brought in $147.13 million in advertising revenue in 2016. By comparison, Twenty-First Century Fox’s last fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2016, brought in a total of $7.65 billion in advertising revenue.
"The O’Reilly Factor" has been the most watched program on Fox News and was coming off the highest-rated first quarter in its history, averaging 4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
But after the New York Times report, advertisers including BMW of North America, Allstate Corp, French pharmaceuticals maker Sanofi SA and T. Rowe Price, pulled their advertising from O'Reilly's show.
O'Reilly's exit, which was first reported by New York magazine, follows that of former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, who was forced to resign in July after being accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women, including former anchor Gretchen Carlson.
Kelly was also one of the accusers and detailed Ailes' behavior in her best-selling book, "Settle for More." Ailes has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing..
Twenty-First Century Fox had tapped the law firm Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, which also looked into the allegations against Ailes, to investigate O'Reilly's conduct.
Investors seemed to take the news in stride. Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox ended Wednesday's trading on the Nasdaq down less than 1 percent at $30.39 and analysts said the network's viewers would likely remain loyal.
O’Reilly’s departure will not affect Twenty-First Century Fox’s overall profitability, said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research.
“They could literally go dark during the time his program airs and they would still be profitable,” said Wieser.
A bigger issue for investors is what the Murdochs will do to prevent the company being in the headlines again just a few months from now, Wieser said. “That’s bigger than O’Reilly,” he said. “The cultural issue is a big issue.”
(Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Rome; Writing by Anna Driver; Editing by Tom Brown)
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I've only see the O'Reilly show half a dozen times or so..
I thought that he was pretty much a blowhard.
I watched it years ago. It got tedious after a short while.
Yeah it's not a big deal it was time for change and overall the network is outperforming their competitors.
I read where he is going to be replaced by Tucker Carlson. I have no idea who that is. Does anyone know of him?
It's like Medusa's snakes-- cut the head off one, and seven more take their place... Here is what he looks like.
He used to a show on CNN called "Crossfire". Then Jon Stewart came on and really tore them up. The show went off the air shortly afterwards.
LOL, out of control. He does look like he had more hair than his current photos.
Or a better Toupé!
Love that clip !!
I am so over this crap...I could puke. OMG, he looked at me in the wrong way. OMG, he touched my arm. OMG, he said I looked pretty. These stupid ass women getting by day after day with this crap.
Think about it.....a good looking guy in an awesome position in the company and some woman uses her "charm" to entice him. Is he going to call sexual harassment? I think not. He might go for the whole cabana, but I hope not. She will turn it around.....take that to the bank.
I am so over this crap...I could puke. OMG, he looked at me in the wrong way. OMG, he touched my arm. OMG, he said I looked pretty. These stupid ass women getting by day after day with this crap.
Think about it.....a good looking guy in an awesome position in the company and some woman uses her "charm" to entice him. Is he going to call sexual harassment? I think not. He might go for the whole cabana, but I hope not. She will turn it around.....take that to the bank.
Good looking?
Not Bill O'Reilly. Figuratively speaking.
Seriously, though, I despise these women who do this.
Wait.. you are blaming the women? If it was one or two, he might have a leg to stand on, but after a full investigation by Fox, Bill turns out to be in the wrong.
Gee, women just suck for unwanted sexual advances at work./sarc.
Amazing the inside information that you have magnoliaave.
I have a lot of inside information......ask me more. Been there and done that.
My husband many years ago advised his company against ANY contact with women employees. Across the board......b e aware!
I know what it is like to be sexually harassed at work. In my office and Dr. Shithole came in and grabbed me throwing his big fat asshole body against me. THAT was a sexual assault. I got away from him and went to another office where the secretary was still there.
This is the bummer part. My husband was out of town as usual. When I told him his reply was 0. The story goes on, but I am going to finish it here.
Sorry that that happened to you magnoliaave, but how does that tell you want actually happened with O'Reilly?
A couple of things IMO got O'Reilly bounced. First the amount of complaints. On a pure business decision, the loss of sponsors and the pending purchase of Sky News.
That's capitalism at work.
O'Reilly released a statement
great unprecedented success?
Maybe, but 80% of his viewership is outside the demographic (25-54) , so unless you think that under 25's are flocking to the O'Reilly factor every night, his audience overwhelmingly consists of older people. And although 2.5 million people is a lot of people, it means that only 1 out of every 80 American adults watched his show on any given night.
In other words O'Reilly was a big fish in a small pond.
The O’Reilly Factor , which anchors Fox News Channel’s primetime lineup at 8 p.m., is the No. 1 program in cable news for the 14th consecutive year, averaging 2.8 million viewers in 2015, up 5 percent year-over year. The show will finish the year as the top-rated among the critical news demographic for the 15th consecutive year, averaging 485,000 viewers among viewers 25-54, an increase of 14 percent year-over-year.
He was an unprecedented success. He leaves Fox as a winner.
This is true Cerenkov. It is a shame that this is the legacy he leaves behind.
Bill O'Reilly was a big fish in a small pond. It may be an "unprecedented success" in a narrow technical sense when compared to the other all news networks, but compared to all other news and all other tv he is a ripple on a lake.
Yep. BF, SP.
Whether he's considered a success or not, really isn't the issue. It was a fall from grace. He is not the first nor will he be the last to suffer that fate.
His time has come and gone. There will be another O'Reilly soon, there always is.
Few people are remembered after a short time, it's really is pretty simple. Murdoch's made a business decision, O'Reilly was a liability so he's gone.
Oh I totally agree Kavika. I think the more interesting takeaway is that no man is to mighty to fall from grace. That being said, the ones who will feel the sting of this the most, is his family. Often they get lost in these kinds of situations.
Indeed, the family does suffer and are rarely thought of in this type of circumstances.
Surely, they have enough money to live on...
Yes, it is an embarrassment for his wife and kids, but they shouldn't be surprised. And, they lived a long time on the largess that his salary provided. So, I have sympathy for them, but it is tempered by their complicity...