Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Fox News officially cut ties Wedn esday with its biggest prime-time star, Bill O’Reilly, after sexualharassment claims against him. “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,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement. O’Reilly — the network’s signature talent who used his cable news fame to become a best-selling author, live tour attraction and TV producer — has been off the air since April 12. O’Reilly, 67, was scheduled to return from a vacation Monday but instead will be succeeded in the 8 p.m. Eastern slot by Tucker Carlson, who moved to the channel’s prime-time lineup only in January. O’Reilly’s behavior has been under scrutiny since a report in The New York Times that said he and Fox News have paid $13 million in settlements to women who have accused him of sexual harassment or abusive behavior going back to 2002. As a result, advertisers removed their spots from his program, The O’Reilly Factor, the network’s flagship show for nearly 20 years, which has the highest ratings in cable news. Last month, Fox re- signed O’Reilly to a multimillion-dollar, three-year contract, fully aware of the history of complaints against him. In his only public statement about the matter, O’Reilly said his fame made him a target of lawsuits and that he settled the claims to spare his children negative publicity.
■ New Prince music is on the way — unless his family can stop it. Deliverance, a six- song EP of songs by the late pop star, is scheduled for release Friday, exactly one year after his death from a fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota. The songs, including the bluesy title track, were recorded between 2006 and 2008 with producer and songwriter Ian Boxill, according to a statement. After Prince died, Boxill continued to work on the music and arranged for its release through RMA, an independent label based in Vancouver, Wash. “Prince once told me that he would go to bed every night thinking of ways to bypass major labels and get his music directly to the public,” Boxill said in the statement. “When considering how to release this important work, we decided to go independent because that’s what Prince would have wanted.” But Prince’s estate is trying to stop Boxill from putting out the EP, according to KSTP-TV in St. Paul. Citing court documents, the station in Prince’s hometown said Prince’s estate filed a federal lawsuit against Boxill, accusing him of violating a contract that gave Prince “sole and exclusive” ownership of any music they recorded together.