Bill O’Reilly takes a fall
The times, well, they do indeed keep changin’ and woe to he who hasn’t realized that.
The “Mad Men” era of fanny pats, three-martini lunches and the illicit propositions that followed is over.
The other thing that’s over now? The lucrative gig Bill O’Reilly had at Fox News Channel.
The case that had been building against O’Reilly threatened to damage the reputation of the network where, even in his final weeks, he remained top of the ratings heap.
But as allegations of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, lewd comments and generally boorish behavior continued to mount against O’Reilly, advertisers raced for the door — nearly 50 of them by this week (a week O’Reilly had taken off for what he insisted was a long-planned trip to Italy). A board meeting of the parent company, 21st Century Fox, had already been scheduled for Thursday and a law firm engaged to investigate the allegations against O’Reilly.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that five women had received cash settlements either from the corporation or from O’Reilly totaling $13 million in return for not pursuing litigation or simply keeping their mouths shut. The network’s former chairman, Roger Ailes, had been dismissed last summer in the wake of similar allegations of misconduct and payouts to alleged victims.
Another victim came forward Tuesday. Pickets at Fox News’ New York headquarters calling for O’Reilly’s ouster were becoming a regular thing.
O’Reilly’s lawyer insisted in a statement that the “smear campaign” against his client was “being orchestrated by far-left organizations bent on destroying O’Reilly for political and financial reasons.” Well, good luck with that one. Wendy Walsh, once a regular guest on O’Reilly’s show until she said she declined an offer to visit his hotel suite, got closer to the truth when she told the Times, “I feel bad that some of these old guys are using mating strategies that were acceptable in the 1950s and are not acceptable now. I hope young men can learn from this.”
Now wouldn’t that be a good thing.