If after millions of dollars in settlements to female former Fox News staffers and contributors to tidy up sexual harassment claims, you thought Bill O’Reilly was untouchable at the network—you might be right! But, it turns out, you could be wrong. After the New York Times delved into the O’Reilly Factor host’s sordid work history earlier this month, there are murmurs that the longtime host and cash cow for the network could be on the way out. That development comes via New York magazine Fox News aficionado Gabriel Sherman, who reported that O’Reilly’s announced vacation on-air Tuesday night could be the end of the host’s run at the network.
From Sherman and New York mag:
A Fox News source told me O’Reilly plans to return to his show on April 24… But according to four network sources, there’s talk inside Fox News that tonight’s show could be his last… Fox News co-president Bill Shine has been working hard to keep O’Reilly, sources said. But O’Reilly’s future is in the hands of the Murdochs… The Murdochs are presently divided over how to handle it. Two highly-placed Fox News sources say 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch would like O’Reilly to be permanently taken off the air, while his father Rupert and older brother Lachlan are more inclined to keep him.
O’Reilly said Tuesday night the trip was previously scheduled and Sherman reports he is planning on returning to his show on April 24th. But will there be a show for him to return to? Since the publishing of the Times article, the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, has directed the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison—the same firm it employed to look into harassment charges that ultimately did in former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes at the network—to investigate the claims. Dozens of advertisers have jumped ship from O’Reilly’s show over the past two weeks as the network is again mired in sexual harrassment scandal surrounding one of its biggest names.
