Former cable news titan Bill O’Reilly says he should have handled the fight for his Fox News Channel career like fellow pundit Sean Hannity.
“The O’Reilly Factor” and 20 years of broadcasting at Fox came to a close in April for its host while controversy swirled. Advertisers left the show in response to news about Mr. O’Reilly’s legally settled sexual harassment claims. He said on May 12 that an “organized left-wing cabal” manufactured the outrage needed to make it happen, but now laments his silence.
“This was no accident that our sponsors were attacked,” Mr. O’Reilly told Newsmax TV’s John Bachman on Thursday. “This was very well organized. They tried it with Hannity. Hannity fought back. I should have. […] Hannity knows they’re looking to get him, but I admire Sean and how he handled the situation. He brought it directly to the folks, and the sponsors stopped. He lost a few but they stopped so he was successful in fighting off the attack but there will be more.”
The best-selling author added that his next employer is going to need a “lot of courage,” Mediaite reported.
Mr. Hannity faced a campaign targeting his advertisers in late May after he aired stories on the July 2016 shooting death of DNC staffer Seth Rich, which police believe to have been the result of a botched robbery. The host told fans that the liberal nonprofit organization Media Matters was attempting to “silence” him, and Fox viewers rallied to his side.
After financial services firm USAA pulled its ads from Mr. Hannity’s show, for example, members flooded its social media pages with angry backlash. The company reversed course within days.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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