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This morning I wrote a piece at The Resurgent arguing that we “owe” Bill O’Reilly to hear his explanation of why he and Fox News have paid over $40 million to settle sexual harassment suits. Erick Erickson, who currently works for Fox News, wrote that he disagreed–that none of us owe O’Reilly anything. I suppose “owe” might have been a strong word to use, but I wanted to emphasize that O’Reilly has done quite a bit of good reporting over the years, and we should at least, for fairness’ sake, hear what he had to say to Glenn Beck today.
In response to Megyn Kelly's comments today, Bill O'Reilly's rep Mark Fabiani sent me photos of a couple thank you notes she sent O'Reilly pic.twitter.com/reqLJ9O5tM
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) October 23, 2017
O'Reilly: "I don't know why Megyn Kelly is doing what she's doing. I don't know why." Says he helped her, gave her the name of her show…
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) October 23, 2017
Self-deception and ego
The level of self-deception and foolish attempts to deflect his own major character flaws on display really paint a very disturbing picture. If this was a court of law, and the payoffs were offered as evidence of a conspiracy to cover up sexual harassment and denigrating behavior toward women, is this is the best O’Reilly could do in his own defense?
Based on that, he’s guilty. Allahpundit went through the logic, step by step. He then reached the conclusion any of us would reach given Megyn Kelly’s comments: “O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false. I know because I complained.”
“O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false. I know because I complained.” @megynkelly on Bill O’Reilly pic.twitter.com/BO8ifQcJbu
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 23, 2017
Here’s Allahpundit’s conclusion:
Clearly some women fear that accusing a powerful man will end more than their employment at a particular firm, it’ll end their career, which is why O’Reilly’s advice to victims to quit is too cavalier. If you’re afraid you’ll be blackballed in your industry if you resign and you’re afraid you’ll be fired or marginalized at work if you stay put and speak up, the logical path might be to stay quiet and try to steer the harasser into an arm’s-length friendly-ish professional relationship. That’s what Kelly evidently had with Ailes. But it doesn’t mean the harassment didn’t happen. Or that it didn’t bother her.
O’Reilly protected Ailes, who protected O’Reilly. It was the classic boys club, like we’ve seen over and over again in entertainment, politics, and corporate life when they think nobody’s looking, and powerful, ego-driven people decide they can get away with it. It’s the same as President Trump’s “grab them by the p***y” remark, the same as Bill Clinton’s Oval Office escapades, and the same as Harvey Weinstein’s decades of domination.
You’d have to be an idiot to believe the claim that “nobody complained” when several lawsuits, including one for $32 million, were settled with women who certainly had a right to complain. I wish they hadn’t taken the money and gone after O’Reilly. But I can’t fault their decision.
As noted earlier on NOQ Report, and confirmed by Allahpundit, Wiehl never actually recanted her allegations. She simply attested that she would not make those allegations after the settlement “resolved” her issues. So for $32 million, she agreed that the money was sufficient to “resolve” her desire to make allegations.
Perspectives
Bill O’Reilly to Glenn Beck: What Megyn Kelly’s saying is “incomprehensible” – Allahpundit, Hot Air
You need to read the two notes Megyn Kelly has sent me over the years, he says to Beck in response to Kelly’s comments this morning. Arguably the notes do prove that Kelly never put much stock in the harassment allegations that dogged O’Reilly prior to 2016. He had reached three settlements with women before then, according to the NYT; maybe Kelly had given him the benefit of the doubt, notwithstanding the sordid details about the Andrea Mackris case that had been published years earlier.
We Owe Bill O’Reilly a Chance To Explain Because the NYT Isn’t Giving Him One | Steve Berman, The Resurgent
Before we consign one of the good guys to the cremation pyre, we should first allow him to make his defense. Let me get this out of the way up front: Bill O’Reilly is one of the good guys in media. He’s one of the professionals, as a journalist and television news pioneer. His segments for Inside Edition are still widely cited as background on various stories. O’Reilly’s career spans several more decades than his ultimate position from which he was removed. He was removed because of an appearance of smoke that could have masked a fire. As someone keenly aware…
I Disagree | Erick Erickson, The Resurgent
“I want to not be sexually harassed by Bill O’Reilly if I can get $32 million for it not happening.”I have a policy that I have maintained since my time at RedState. This is a site that is directly connected with me, but there are more writers than me. They each have an opinion that is not the same as mine and they are absolutely entitled to say whatever they want to say whether I agree with it or not. Rarely does this site take a position on anything. The only major rule for front page writers is that they…
Yeah, he did it
Seriously, there’s nothing there indicating Bill O’Reilly isn’t a serial abuser of the worst sort–in fact, the amount would seem to speak for itself.
Either he has the worst lawyer in the world or this affidavit is basically Wiehl’s way of saying, “Yep, something happened, and I’m not going to perjure myself by claiming otherwise.”
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Now that I’ve heard from him, I think O’Reilly did exactly what $40 million of shut-up money will buy. He protected Ailes because Ailes was protecting him. Kelly and Carlson were cordial because they were scared of having their careers ended, and probably couldn’t wait to get out. I can’t say anyone danced on Ailes’ grave, or cheered when O’Reilly left the air, but I’m sure there was an air of relief among the female staff.
It’s best if we don’t hear from O’Reilly again. Unless he’s going to repent in public.
Listen to Beck’s radio program.
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