Mr. O’Reilly Brought It On HIMSELF
There is, as I suspected and Jonn Lilyea has always told us, more than meets the eye to something, so when I read Poetrooper’s article about Bill O’Reilly being fired and a payout of $13 million by Fox, I wondered what that was really all about. And who is being silenced, anyway?
There is no doubt in my mind that O’Reilly is an arrogant ass, an abrasive butthead with the personality of a female alligator guarding her nest. But since I have worked with and for people who were obnoxious as hell in many respects but still decent in many others, it seemed to me that we weren’t getting the full story or what brought all of this to a head.
So I dug. Got out the internet power shovel and began shoveling.
And I did strike a find. It seems that in 2015, Emily Steel, a reporter for the New York Times, was doing a story on O’Reilly’s claims about where he was during the Falklands War. He found out what she was up to and threatened her in writing on Twitter with reprisal, as indicated in the following CNBC article.
The following is a link to the 2015 NYT story in which he defends his reporting on the Falklands War, including a video of his argument about his reports.
You can see from the early video of him throwing a screaming fit on a video session of Inside Edition, in the comments on Poetrooper’s article, that he has an unbridled and volatile temper, which impels him to become aggressively abusive over something that is easily resolved, and his behavior includes throwing things – also unnecessary. You have to start asking if he throws things and has screaming fits, does he also threaten to hit people who piss him off? What else does he do to intimidate people around him?
There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. It’s not at all the same thing as breaking up a dogfight where you have to kick both dogs in the head to get them off each other, or turn the hose on them.
As far as I’m concerned, O’Reilly got what was coming to him and it was long overdue.
How many times has Jonn told us that something like stolen valor claims are only the tip of the iceberg? Well, it does not apply only to stolen valor. Before you go any further with comments about the ‘whiners’ and how much of it is simply annoyance from women over being the object of bad behavior and crass comments by a rude, crude, obnoxious jackass, take into consideration that when someone in O’Reilly’s position threatens a colleague – someone who, like Emily Steel, works in the same field – in any way at all over anything and puts it in writing, it means that this is not just some smoke that will blow away.
There is also fire.
Category: Media
As I commented in Poetrooper’s piece about this selfsame topic, the video of his getting pissed off doesn’t strike me as odd, alien, or extraordinary. In fact, I found it both refreshing and something I can relate to.
Lacking the humility of understanding that even people at the top can be buried easily enough, you too often see people like this destroy themselves because they think they are above it.
This wasn’t the first time this kind of thing happened at fox. Even steve doocy was tagged by the former morning host that sat on the couch with him everyday. She got a nice fat settlement for it because of his constant sexual harassment, even on air at times.
With the amount of gorgeous women working at Fox, they need to do a better job of putting people in check about sexual harassment to ensure there is no tolerance for it, even for a top earner. As I heard, this got to a point where they were tired of dealing with Bill’s bullshit and needed to end it, regardless of his ratings or earnings. Smart move, even if they should’ve done it sooner.
Being in the Army as long as I have, seeing all the bullshit I’ve seen while also seeing punishments doled out for committing harassment and the like, I feel pretty confident I wouldn’t do this, though I might get talked to once because of perception. Though, that is all it would take, is one time.
I don’t know if I should feel lucky about it or not, but I’ve never had someone raise a question about me stepping over the line, let alone sexually harassing or saying something inappropriate to female Soldiers.
Bill might’ve been thinking, “well, the other ‘Bills’ have gotten away with it, so I can too!”
As I said above, I wasn’t looking at the harassment part as much as the rest of it. O’Reilly has a pattern of behavior that includes the harassment, as well as other things such as throwing tantrums and threatening people.
I think it’s fair to say that the harassment was simply a part of the rest of it, and that he got away with it for as long as he could intimidate people by being an abrasive jackass.
The red flag was his threats to the NYT reporter over doing an article on his claims about what he did re: the Falklands War. If he had not put that in writing, I would not have bothered with this op-ed. I hope that’s clear.
You are right about him getting away with it for so long…he had been there 21 years and thought he was untouchable! I thought he was an obnoxious clown and can’t tell you how many expletives I yelled at him for interrupting his guests and correcting them..as if he had all the answers! Half the time he didn’t know the questions imho….The sad part is that the owners two dimwitted spawn are behind this and want to make fox news more liberal! If it was MORE liberal, it would be msnbc, or cbs or cnn imo. I do like Hannity, and Tucker Carlson…several others!
You’re right on the two swamprats.
they are trying to turn it into MSNBC because they think that being aliberal is cool.
That is the only reason they would hire such a dumbass, and I mean dumbass in the very meaning of the word, like Marie Harf.
Harf was thoroughly trashed as the most dimwitted spokesperson in the entire history of the US State Department.
Her comments about ISIS only needing jobs to get them to stop terrorism was so incredibly stupid even the most liberal of liberals had to disown her and that statement.
And she gets hired at FNS ???
Here’s another take on the whole mess and the stench leads right to the boys.
https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2017/04/19/is-oreillys-firing-really-about-trump/
I superbly hate that twat Marie Harf.
She also proclaimed that she knew more about the situation that happened with Bergdahl than the guys in his platoon that were on the ground during one of her press conferences. That was enough to make me dislike her immediately, let alone the “I know everything, I work in DoS!” attitude she portrayed.
I agree with you, don’t think that I wasn’t. I think they took this harassment issue as the key to get rid of him for all the bullshit they’ve dealt with over the years from him.
I didn’t even know about the falklands issue with him, but I didn’t really watch his show.
You know MSG Eric, me thinks you may have nailed the solution. Do like CNN does and only hire unattractive women and add a touch of safety and dress them in burkas.
Ugly manly lesbians would be much less controversial. There seem to be a lot of them out there.
It seems to work for MSNBC too.
I’d never be able to work at Fox. If I did, I probably would last about a week before I got fired for all the gawking I’d be doing.
You’d never imagine when they called it Fox news that it would have so many foxes working there.
O’reilly has long been known to be a lying blowhard:
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/03/12/did-bill-oreilly-really-witness-a-firefight-in/202731
He lied about his experiences in the Falklands as well as a few experiences in El Sal, to include the murder of some nuns and a firefight.
I long ago wrote him off as an entertainer rather than a journalist or even a news columnist. He is almost always simply wrong and I find it physically painful to watch him conduct an ‘interview’ (really just an excuse to demonstrate his ‘knowledge’).
I long suspected that he was a serial sexual harasser and all around jerk. Fox clearly built their brand around having attractive women on the set sitting next to old fat guys like Bill (or stupid skinny guys like Doocy), but that doesn’t excuse his actions.
Someone on the other O’Reilly thread asked how these women expect men to act if they dress ‘provocatively’.
I have no idea, but I expect men (and all people) to treat each other with dignity and respect, so I find it inexcusable that Bill acted this way and the network looked the other way.
The same person predicted that they would be accused of victim blaming. Not at all. I accuse you of excusing illegal and unethical behavior.
“Someone on the other O’Reilly thread asked how these women expect men to act if they dress ‘provocatively’.”
First, look but don’t touch. Second, as far as looking, it’s possible, if not necessarily always easy, to appreciate the scenery without making an ass of yourself. If you’re staring, it’s obvious, and she probably doesn’t like it. Glance. Use your peripheral vision. And then put your eyes back where they belong and get your ass back to work. If you have trouble with this, just imagine the world of shit that will rain down on you when she tells the boss that she’s tired of you staring at her tits.
But, but, Red…does this mean you wouldn’t even consider excusing this old trooper for drooling uncontrollably all over the set?
Poetrooper, et al., has it occurred to any of you that the networks tell these women what they are going to wear on a daily basis? That isn’t gossip or a rumor. They are told what to wear if they want to keep those jobs. Why else would you have a female meteorologist wearing a skirt so tight she looks like it’s going to rip at the seams?
That isn’t fashion, you know, and the networks are not selling news.
Gee, I dunno. Maybe because it’s comfortable to work in?
Heh…
You say that as if I love watching the cleavage shots of Kimberly Guilfoyle during the Five and especially her legs and always want to watch the Five because of it.
Well, that’s not the only reason of course, but she helps. Schwing!
I bet Whoopi and Joy are doing the happy dance.
Oh, yeah …
It’s the Schadenfreude boogie.
They probably are, but even they are missing the point: he’s abusive toward anyone in his line of sight, per the Inside Edition video, male or female, colleague and therefore equal, or subordinate.
I never cared for BOR. He reminded me too much of Hannity, always talking over his guests and trying to prove he was the smartest one on the air in the 8pm hour.
Now, Fox apparently has turned over the prime time hour to Tucker Carlson. Couldn’t have picked a better person, I’m glad that Megyn Kelly had already left for the home of Lyin’ Brian Williams.
I’m glad they picked Tucker to replace him
Until women who are harassed learn to deal with the situation themselves, it will be open season for jerks. I had one man in a work environment who pushed limits. I spoke to him politely two times. The third incident, I backed him into a wall and told him if he touched me again I was going to hurt him — and kept him there until I was sure he had gotten the message. It wasn’t theater — I meant what I said, and he knew it. No more problems after that. I don’t like going all
demon on anyone, but I will do it when it’s necessary. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — if women can’t run with the big dogs, then they need to keep their ass on the porch.
Sometimes ya just gotta let ’em get a glimpse of the Sabertooth …
Exactly. Thanks, PN. I’ve run into it, too, and did something similar.
Darnit why aren’t you getting these kinds of things on video for us?
Wasn’t no video available at work. So sorry!
True that. Some guys just don’t know when to quit and need to be made to understand. But, I believe that how a woman carries herself goes a long way in how she is treated. Had a few incidents back in my younger days and early career. Handled it when I could and when I couldn’t brought it up my chain. It also helped to have a hubby who was in the combat arms field and a weightlifter. Nothing scared the jerks like having him bow up on them, politely 🙂
If multiple people all accuse you of being a crackhead over a period of 20+ years….
Motherfucker you’re a crackhead
Aaaahh, SO Bill O’Reilly, who I often thought of as an egotistical pompous ASS did indeed shoot himself in the face, foot, and ass all at once over a period of time and I have ZERO sympathy for him.
something for folks to consider:
If Murdock and the other guy, being business men, and as such interested in one thing, making MONEY … and O’Reilly was clearly a major revenue source (ie, the popularity of a given show dictating advertising cost per unit time) … it HAD to be serious. A simple cost-benefit ratio.
Bingo!
I heard as part of the story he was actually losing advertisers for his show over the past few months, so I’m guessing that helped play into this.
I believe his “unfounded” and “unproven” BS as much as I believed Bill Clinton’s
There’s a local station that uses a lot of women as field reporters. Not one of these women is a hot tamale. In the winter, they are frequently seen bundled up to their eyebrows, wearing lumberjack hats and thick scarves, just to keep warm and dry, but they are decent-looking women with a professional presence and not one of them bores the daylights out of the viewing audience.
If more women in the news were like these local women, we’d have fewer incidents of this kind of crap. I think the difference is that Fox and other networks are competing for a national audience, whereas the local station I’m referring to already has its “creds” and can be seen on its own cable nationally.
While I have to say that I’m disappointed in Fox for providing the gossip rags with more BS to generate, they have not, to my knowledge, employed women ‘journalists’ whose delivery was as dreadful as Diane Sawyer’s or whose personal obssessions were as blatantly obvious as Baba Wah-wahs were.
There is probably even more to come in this story than the modest amount I dug up.
It is pretty significant that Fox News essentially bet $13 million that the allegations were true.
And his highlight reels are obnoxious. I am surprised he lasted as long as he did.
I’m not. Controversy sells on tv.
this is why people like him seem to dominate the airwaves.
He will land softly, but never be a dominate force on tv.
That said, Fox did not “bet” on this outcome. Fox bet that they had a better bet in the wings.
Time will tell, but Fox has been fairly astute at reading the market forces.
The lesson everyone should draw here is that “journalism” in the USA is a business that rewards the extremes and never integrity.
This drives a proliferation of shows like his, Rachel Maddow, etc.
The fate of the nation is probably not affected.
All of that said, I’ve never watched his show, so I’m not sure whether it was an interesting watch or not, but it certainly could not be worse than Bill Maher on HBO or Ed Schultz on RT.
“All of that said, I’ve never watched his show, so I’m not sure whether it was an interesting watch or not, but it certainly could not be worse than Bill Maher on HBO or Ed Schultz on RT.”
I think I’d rather crawl naked through poison ivy after wallowing in broken glass and thumbtacks followed up with a bath in rubbing alcohol than suffer through a lecture from Maher or Schultz!
I used to listen to the O’Reilly show because he covered stories that others did not. I didn’t listen to him, but I listened to the show.
As time went on, it seemed clearer and clearer that O’Reilly thought that everything or most things were about him. His continual interruption of people who were giving answers (not spinning) was unprofessional at the very least.
Then the show degraded into “The O’Reilly Home Shopping Network.” That turned me off even more.
Finally were the horrible “Killing” series of books. O’Reilly made up things in the books and still called them “non-fiction.” There are no sources within the books (or very limited sources) so there is no way of knowing where the material and ideas were coming from.
I actually wrote a post on about one of the Killing books and ripped it apart for not only being horribly written, but for being a poorly sourced work of historical fiction. That review got an email from the publisher asking me to take down the review and to read O’Reilly’s next book which they would send me for free.
I told them that my integrity was worth more then bound toilet paper with O’Reilly’s name on it.
O’Reilly was immensely popular and often a foil for other networks. The problem was that he started to believe the he was the story and was untouchable. He’s rich and so he can waddle off into the sunset with a load of cash, but Judas walked off with cash as well.
One’s word, honesty and integrity should be worth more than money.
“Fuck it we’ll do it live!!!”
Things like this reflect a major difference between conservatives and liberals.
Most of what I’ve read online from those who either self-identify as conservative or whose writing suggests a conservative perspective, even if they enjoyed Bill’s program, tend to conclude that “he did what he did, so he got what he got.”
Most of what I’ve observed from liberals over the years is that if bad behavior by one of their “heroes” is unearthed, they blindly and savagely defend the “honor” of those “heroes” regardless of facts.
I seem to have observed the same. Confirmation is a good thing … so I know I’m not just imagining things.
The fact that Hillary was their candidate is enough to prove your point of view, but it is good to see you write it out like this.
I have watched O’Reilly for many years..but the frequency and enjoyment has dwindled. He lost his spark 10 yrs ago and seemed to be more interested in it all being about him, and as of late..his books. He played the Catholic alter boy role but was quick to say that the Holy Bible should NOT be held as factual and accurate to respected conservative evangelicals who were on his show.
I will not miss his his interruptions of good guests and the disappointing “Where am I going wrong ?..” after making a strong defensible point. He ought to have exited stage left,or changed venue, years ago so he would avoid the ‘dirty clothes hamper’ where he resides now with obvious embarrassment and regret. But he is wealthy and I look to what he does in the future for what I hope includes a strong degree of desirable redemption. He can find that process in the Bible in the “ex alter boy reading room” in St. Patricks Cathedral. CAPT Bones
I don’t find myself agreeing with others on this site very often, but this article is right on the money. I fondly remember an interview he did with Marylin (Marilyn?) Manson in the 2000s where Bill tried to lord his morality over him and blame him for the Columbine school shooting. Manson wasn’t having any of it and responded intelligently while remaining cool and polite the entire time and even thanked Bill for the opportunity to have a discussion after the interview. It was quite entertaining to watch Bill becoming dumbstruck and realize that his usual bullying and screaming tactics had backfired on him. Picture it: a rock and roll star in goth makeup and an SS-hat versus a conservatively dressed old man – and the old man comes off as the crazy one!
Good riddance, Bill, hope you enjoy retirement!
Thank you for reminding me of that interview, I completely forgot about it.
I stopped watching O’Reilly awhile ago. His holier-than-thou attitude always pissed me off. He also deserves to receive a “Gibbs” with a dictionary for his stupid-assed Factor Word of the Day.
I didn’t remember that interview and because nothing ever goes away on the internet, here it is:
https://youtu.be/yC6v4dIudVY
It’s ironic that O’Reilly is talking about “sexual morality” considering what he is accused of now.
Exactly. Some people get too big for their britches and become the hypocrites they supposedly despise.
Thank you for the link.