Plan B Forum

Bill O’Reilly taking abrupt vacation amid scandal, advertiser boycott

Amid a scandal involving the settlement of multiple sexual harassment claims that has cost his Fox News show over half its advertisers, Bill O’Reilly announced Tuesday evening he was leaving for a pre-planned vacation.

“We all need R&R. Put it to good use,” O’Reilly told viewers of The O’Reilly Factor at the end of his program.

O’Reilly said he scheduled the trip “last fall,” which would have been long before the bombshell New York Times report that five former Fox News personalities were paid $13 million as part of settlements involving harassment claims.

A spokeswoman for the network confirmed that O’Reilly is expected to return on April 24th. A rotating cast of fill-in hosts will take O’Reilly’s place while he is away.

Despite assurances of his return, an abrupt mid-week vacation coming as an advertising boycott has claimed over 60 sponsors creates obvious questions about O'Reilly's future with the network. One source, a contributor to the network who requested to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution, said for the first time there is open chatter about who will replace O’Reilly if and when he leaves his popular show.

In addition, New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman reports that 21st Century Fox CEO Jamie Murdoch wants O'Reilly taken off the air permanently, and is locked in a fight with Fox News Co-President Bill Shine, who wants the embattled host to stick around. His father, Rupert, and older brother, Lachlan, also reportedly back O'Reilly and want him to remain on the network.

A spokesperson for Murdoch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move also comes days after radio talk-show host Wendy Walsh filed a formal complaint about O’Reilly’s actions to a 21st Century Fox hotline. Walsh, once a contributor to The O’Reilly Factor, claims she was denied a job as a paid contributor and eventually removed from the show when she refused to visit O’Reilly in his hotel suite.

21st Century Fox confirmed on Sunday they are investigating Walsh’s claims about O’Reilly’s behavior, enlisting the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to investigate the accusation.

At last count, over 60 companies have said they will no longer advertise on the show following the revelations made in the New York Times story (a full list can be seen here).

The boycott hasn't yet hurt the bottom line at Fox News, which has said most companies have shifted their advertisements to other programs on the network. But the growing list of companies refusing to advertise on The O'Reilly Factor has created a public-relations nightmare for executives at the network, and at the very least, it gives executives at the network some breathing room to see if it can weather the storm caused by the advertising backlash.

Despite the bad publicity, ratings are actually up for O’Reilly, as people tuned in to see if the outspoken host would break his silence on the claims made in the Times story. Last week, The O’Reilly Factor averaged over 3.7 million total viewers, an increase of 28 percent over the previous week. O’Reilly’s show was the second most popular show on cable television last week, topped only by USA Network’s Monday Night Raw.

21st Century Fox responded to the Times report earlier this month, saying in a statement it “denies the merits of these claims.” And O’Reilly said in a statement on his website that he settled the claims in order to “put to rest any controversies to spare my children.”[Bill's a very unlucky guy. He was recently denied custody of his teenage children when one of them said she saw him drag her mother down the stairs by the neck. It seems like everybody wants to lie about poor Bill]

O'Reilly isn't the first embattled Fox News host to take a vacation amid a growing advertiser boycott. Back in 2009, Glenn Beck announced he was taking a vacation as critics blasted him for calling President Obama "a racist." At the time, there were reports that Beck would not return to his Fox News show, but ultimately he did, and remained on the network for two more years, until losses in both advertisers and ratings let to him transitioning off the network in 2011.

Bill's a very unlucky guy. He was recently denied custody of his teenage children when one of them said she saw him drag her mother down the stairs by the neck. It seems like everybody wants to lie about poor Bill]

Sue U wrote:If BillO goes, who will tell us about the War on Christmas?

Sue U wrote:If BillO goes, who will tell us about the War on Christmas?

Bill O'Reilly out at Fox News

Bill O'Reilly's 21-year career at Fox News has come to a sudden and ignoble end.

"The O'Reilly Factor" has been canceled amid a cloud of harassment allegations against the conservative broadcaster.

Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, who run 21st Century Fox, made the announcement Wednesday afternoon.

"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," Fox said.

In a statement of his own released later Wednesday afternoon, O'Reilly said, "Over the past 20 years at Fox News, I have been extremely proud to launch and lead one of the most successful news programs in history... 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. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. I wish only the best for Fox News Channel."

It is unclear if Fox News is paying O'Reilly.[I'm going to go way out on a limb here, and suggest that the answer to that question is "Yes"...probably a lot of money... otherwise I sincerely doubt that he would have said "I wish only the best for the Fox News Channel"...A good guess would be that the contract buy out, (he just signed a new one) was probably in the mid-eight figures...with his audience following, they don't want him outside the tent pissing in...]The host is presumably owed tens of millions of dollars under the terms of his multi-year contract, though it is not clear what sort of clauses the contract may have contained to allow Fox News to get out of the deal.

O'Reilly's departure was precipitated by a New York Times report earlier this month that O'Reilly, Fox and 21st Century Fox had reached settlements totaling $13 million with five women who had accused O'Reilly of sexual harassment or verbal abuse. In the wake of the Times' report, at least 60 advertisers told Fox to remove their commercials from "The O'Reilly Factor."

In a letter to employees obtained by CNN, 21st Century Fox patriarch Rupert Murdoch said the decision "follows an extensive review done in collaboration with outside counsel."

"By ratings standards, Bill O'Reilly is one of the most accomplished TV personalities in the history of cable news," the three wrote. "In fact, his success by any measure is indisputable. Fox News has demonstrated again and again the strength of its talent bench. We have full confidence that the network will continue to be a powerhouse in cable news.

"Lastly, and most importantly, we want to underscore our consistent commitment to fostering a work environment built on the values of trust and respect."

The letter concluded with an apparent nod to morale problems within Fox News recently.

"I understand how difficult this has been for many of you," it said. "Thank you for your hard work, patience, and for the great job you all do delivering news and opinion to millions of Americans whose trust you earn every day. I look forward to even more success in the coming years."

Almost immediately after the announcement of O'Reilly's departure, Fox released its new, O'Reilly-less lineup, which will start Monday, the day O'Reilly had been scheduled to return from vacation.

Tucker Carlson will be moving from 9 p.m. to take over O'Reilly's 8 p.m. slot, while "The Five" will move to 9 p.m. with new co-host Jesse Watters. Eric Bolling, who had been a co-host of "The Five," is taking the 5 p.m. hour by himself, though his new show will not debut until May 1.

Liberal groups which had long opposed O'Reilly, and had been pushing advertisers to join the boycott, celebrated the news Wednesday.

"Advertisers fled because they immediately recognized what Fox News has ignored for over a decade: that serial sexual harassment is not only wrong, but bad for business. Without advertisers, Bill O'Reilly's show was no longer commercially viable. Fox News had no choice but to fire O'Reilly. Accountability came from the outside, not from within," Media Matters for America president Angelo Carusone said in a statement.

BoSoxGal wrote:Sadly, I'm sure some media somewhere will give him a continued voice. RT, perhaps?

Joe Guy wrote:The funny thing is that it has been reported that O'Reilly is on vacation at the Vatican!!

BoSoxGal wrote:Sadly, I'm sure some media somewhere will give him a continued voice. RT, perhaps?

• A Farewell To Bill O'Reilly From Stephen Colbert And "Stephen Colbert"

BrooklynNonHipster 5h ago

John Boehner met the Pope and he was done. Bill O'Reilly met the Pope and he was done.
Donald Trump should most definitely meet the Pope!

ex-khobar Andy wrote:There is a story in today's Guardian that Trump has announced a visit with the Pope, although it is not yet confirmed. Thus there is the possibility that the Pope will not be available which will be seen as a snub.

ex-khobar Andy wrote:There is a story in today's Guardian that Trump has announced a visit with the Pope, although it is not yet confirmed. Thus there is the possibility that the Pope will not be available which will be seen as a snub. Among the comments is this gem:

BrooklynNonHipster 5h ago

John Boehner met the Pope and he was done. Bill O'Reilly met the Pope and he was done.
Donald Trump should most definitely meet the Pope!

I am all for it. Three's a charm.