6 Reasons Why Firing of Bill O’Reilly Is Not Surprising
The big question on Thursday morning was “Did Fox really fire Bill O’Reilly ?”. Most of the people were shocked and surprised at this decision by Fox News. Bill O’Reilly was an integral part of the Fox family and what more, the current president of the U.S. Donald Trump, also supported him. The anchor of the show “The O’Reilly Factor” has been on air for 20 years. On Wednesday afternoon, the parent family 21 Century Fox informed the Fox news employees about their decision via emails. The email was sent by Rupert Murdoch and the statement is as follows –
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.
It is reported that Tucker Carlson will reportedly take over O’Reilly’s slot, with his show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” moving from 9pm to 8pm. Here is the complete email that was sent to the employees.
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1. Multiple Sexual Harassment Allegations
Multiple Sexual harassment allegations were made by many women working at Fox. The most recent complaint was lodged by an African American women. According to her statement, O’Reilly called her “Hot Chocolate” and was grunting like a “wild boar” while saying this. As many as five women have accused Bill O’Reilly of sexual harassment at workplace. The company did not elaborate on the allegations but as we all know by now, it has fired Bill. The women who had accused him for being a sexual predator are overjoyed to hear the news. They knew that he has it coming but they were not sure that it would be this soon.
2. Inappropriate Behaviour
According to a women producer on his show, Bill O’Reilly phoned her when it sounded as if he was masturbating. He had also phoned her many times to describe his various sexual fantasies and made lewd remarks. O’Reilly also did not stop at just some lewd remarks but also suggested to her that she should buy a vibrator and engage in phone sex and threesome with him. He would also ask her to listen to the details of his sexual encounters with many women. Dr. Wendy Walsh, who started the backlash against O’Reilly when she went public earlier this month said that she was really joyful about the decision.
3. Threats to Coworkers
Bill O’Reilly has also threatened many of his coworkers especially women. According to a source, he said that he will make any woman who dared to complain about his behavior “pay so dearly that she’ll wish she’d never been born”. These threats did not work on them since many women came out to complain about his behavior. Threatening them did not work in favor of O’Reilly since this was a major factor that lead to his removal from Fox news.
4. Boycott from Advertisers
After the news broke out about Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment allegations, as many as 50 advertisers had abandoned his show. This action caused a major reaction from Fox news which we all see now. These advertisers demanded the removal of Bill O’Reilly and said that they will not come back to his show. Due to the loss of advertisers from the show, 21 Century Fox did not hesitate to sack Bill despite great ratings from the show.
5. A Million Dollar Exit Package
One of the most speculated reason for his exit from Fox was the million dollar exit package. The dismissal of Bill O’Reilly comes with a $25 Million exit package, according to the report in The New York Times. This multi-million dollar amount is quoted to be the exit package of the former Fox news anchor. The women who accused him of being a sexual predator were also given some settlement money. Five of them were paid a total of $13 million for settlement. The network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, has now paid more than $85 million related to allegations of sexual harassment and other abusive behavior allegations at Fox News.
6. Morality V/S Money
The number of cases on Bill made this decision as a factor to decide the morality of the company. Not only Fox news but many women working at various news channels have alleged many co-workers of sexual harassment. The image of the company was at stake when the number of accusations was on a rise. The company has ditched money and chose morality. Overall, this was coming for Bill O’Reilly and many people had known it for sure. The only thing that surprises us is that it happened at Fox and that to a high earning anchor. This might change the thought of many people who think Fox is all about money.
