It was a shock to everyone when, after two decades as the King of Cable, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly was taken off the air.
His ousting came just weeks after an explosive report in the New York Times claiming that Bill O’Reilly had settled a number of sexual harassment cases against him. It was reported as if the settlement was an admission of guilt, and not a strategy to delay a lengthy and expensive lawsuit (though of course, we don’t know the reality of the situation). It was at that point that the far-left Media Matters coordinated a campaign to target Bill’s advertisers, which was mostly successful.
Following his departure, O’Reilly blasted the left’s “brutal campaign of character assassination,” and he also faulted himself for not doing more to fight back. In fact, he said that the same people who conspired to get him fired at Fox are the same people in the media trying to take down Donald Trump. He said the following to an audience while on tour with comedian Dennis Miller:
“It is now almost impossible for me to analyze Donald Trump fairly because he is being treated so unfairly, you see?” he said. “And I know because the same people who came at me are behind what’s happening to him. The same people. So, I know that this is a fraud being perpetuated on you, the American voter, because they — the progressive, organized far left — didn’t or won’t accept the election. They won’t. They will not accept it.”
Interestingly enough, not long after he made that comment, it was a network on the right that pulled a job offer out from underneath O’Reilly. The outspoken anchor had been speaking about a potential return to television, and after making a number of appearances on the conservative One America News network, speculation began to swirl that it would be the network to hire him.
As it turns out, there were plans to bring on Bill – and they’ve just been revoked. The CEO of the network tweeted out the following last night:
We are pulling offer to @billoreilly, it could have paid him more than he made at Fox. We wish him luck. #OANN
— Robert Herring (@RobHerring) June 20, 2017
OAN is the privately-held news channel launched to give Fox News a run for its viewers and advertisers. Landing the king of cable news could have helped it expand beyond its current 15 million homes.
“We contacted him in April, he sent us to his agent,” Herring told Politco about the proposed deal. “They were to take a meeting in late May. We sent them a solid proposal first week in June. They have not responded, so we pulled our offer so that we can pursue other talent.”
Over the weekend, during the re-start of his live tour, O’Reilly told the audience: “I am starting my own operation. We will go into a studio and it will look like ‘The Factor.’ It’s basically an experiment to see how many people are going to want this service.”
H/T Adweedk
So it seems like he’s holding out for something better – a Bill O’Reilly network.
Heck – the guy probably has enough money to buy One America News himself.
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