Earlier this year, 21st Century Fox terminated Bill O’Reilly after a renewed focus on the various sexual harassment allegations leveled against him cost “The O’Reilly Factor” advertising dollars.
Although the former host has remained productive, producing his podcast and releasing a book, he has not landed a new television gig despite the massive ratings his long-running show enjoyed.
But even with that recent career setback, brought on by a controversy of his own making, O’Reilly has claimed that he might return to television ― as long as “far left” haters don’t get in his way.
In an interview with Newsmax, host John Bachman told O’Reilly that a recent poll conducted by his publication revealed most respondents wanted O’Reilly back on TV. Bachman then asked whether the former host had an update on a possible return.
“I may come back to television, it depends,” said O’Reilly. “We’re living in a pretty vicious age now. Whoever I work for is going to have to have a lot of courage to stop the far left from attacking sponsors and spreading lies about people.”
It’s not entirely clear what lies O’Reilly was referring to, but here are a few facts.
Twenty-First Century Fox paid around $13 million to settle allegations involving O’Reilly and women who worked with him at the company. O’Reilly’s departure from Fox News came shortly after a similar sexual harassment scandal led to the exit of then–Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. Fox News still maintains a relationship with President Donald Trump, who faces multiple sexual assault allegations against him.
O’Reilly claimed to Newsmax that “The O’Reilly Factor” was “not a hateful operation,” but that “the haters got us.”
“It’s just really nasty,” O’Reilly said.
“So, I may come back to television, or I may continue on the ‘net,” the former host concluded, adding that his Twitter account is very successful.
