In the era of Trump, it’s hard to believe that Fox News, that bastion of right-wing bloviating and towering ratings, has now lost its founder and two biggest stars in just over nine months.
Roger Ailes, gone. Megyn Kelly, gone. And now, the biggest name in cable news: Bill O’Reilly.
O’Reilly was ousted Wednesday after 21 years in the wake of revelations of sexual harassment complaints and settlements involving multiple women over several years. As with Ailes, who resigned last July, a law firm was hired by 21st Century Fox to investigate the allegations of wrongdoing. As with Ailes, the process was relatively swift.
I was surprised. My cynical journalist’s senses assumed that the corporate bean-counters would find a way to hold onto their biggest cash cow. A massive public apology? Six-figure donations to women’s causes? A tearful confessional on rival Rachel Maddow’s show?
Do we applaud Fox for pulling the trigger, or deride them for waiting so long to do it?
As the New York Times reported Wednesday, O’Reilly’s departure comes two and a half weeks after an investigation by the paper “revealed how Fox News and 21st Century Fox had repeatedly stood by Mr. O’Reilly even as sexual harassment allegations piled up against him. The Times found that the company and Mr. O’Reilly reached settlements with five women who had complained about sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior by him. The agreements totaled about $13 million.”
Large companies pay out “nuisance value” settlements all the time. But $13 million conjures other words. (O’Reilly has denied the charges. In a statement released Wednesday, he also said of Fox that “it is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims.”)
The O’Reilly Factor was the top-rated show in cable news for years. O’Reilly pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars for the company annually. His ouster not only changes Fox News, it changes the landscape for all of cable’s prime time talk shows.
Where will viewers flock? To Anderson Cooper at CNN? To Maddow or Chris Matthews at MSNBC? Or will Fox be able to fill its ever-widening holes?
The company announced Wednesday that Tucker Carlson would be taking over O’Reilly’s 8 p.m. time slot starting Monday. That’s the same Carlson who took over Kelly’s former 9 p.m. slot when she bolted for NBC in January. Fox’s The Five will move into the 9 p.m. slot, at least temporarily, starting Monday.
With Republicans controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, and the recent addition of conservative choice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, you would think this would be crowing time for the crew at Fox News.
Instead, the company can’t get out of its own way as major players keep being exposed as serial harassers. (Like O’Reilly, Ailes has repeatedly denied the charges.)
On camera, O’Reilly seemed to wear an eternal smirk, questioning authority and stupidity. He opened each evening with a warning: “Caution! You are entering the no spin zone.” He could be arrogant and smart-alecky and impatient, often cutting off guests so that he could finish their point (from a decidedly O’Reilly point of view).
He fostered many imitators. The most famous and successful of all was Stephen Colbert’s egomaniacal character on his old Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, which was inspired by O’Reilly and his “Talking Points.”
It will be interesting to see O’Reilly’s next move. He has an exceedingly loyal following. And not just on the air.
His Killing books (Killing Kennedy, Killing Lincoln) are enormous bestsellers, with more than 17 million copies in print. (Ironically, his current bestseller, Old School, is about traditional values.) He is also a big draw on the speaker’s circuit.
After a year or so in the wilderness, maybe O’Reilly will plot a return to the airwaves. (A cable news competitor? Podcasts? Satellite radio?)
Perhaps the happiest person at Fox News is Sean Hannity.
After years of serving as chopped liver behind the ratings juggernauts of O’Reilly and Kelly, Hannity, a vociferous Trump supporter, is now what’s left of the old guard. For now, Fox says he will remain in his 10 p.m. time slot. But with all the upheaval of late, who knows.
Is America ready for The Hannity Factor?
Clint O’Connor can be reached at 330-996-3582 or coconnor@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClintOMovies .