Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly was furious and threatened a PBS host after she questioned him about sexual harassment allegations that led to his firing from the network.
Margaret Hoover, host of PBS’s Firing Line, sat down for an interview with O’Reilly on Tuesday to promote her new book, Confronting the Presidents.
But the interview spiraled out of control when Hoover asked him about the more than $40 million he paid out over sexual harassment allegations while he was at the network.
“I’d be a fool to bring that up,” Reilly fumed after declining to comment, later claiming: “You don’t know anything about it.”
Vacuum cleaner, to Fox News A contributor and guest on The O’Reilly Factor from 2007 to 2011, He responded: “I know about the culture I experienced at Fox News.”
“Okay. That’s enough,” O’Reilly said exasperatedly as he threw up his hands and walked off the set while telling her, “You’re in trouble.”
Margaret Hoover, host of Firing Line on PBS, is shown interviewing former Fox host and American conservative commentator Bill O’ Reilly.
At one point in the interview, O’Reilly is seen with both hands in the air saying, “Okay. Enough is enough.”
The former Fox host worked at the network for more than two decades before being fired after The New York Times reported on the private dealings.
A staggering $13 million and an additional settlement worth $32 million went to the women who accused him of sexual harassment while he was at the network.
The heated exchange began about 30 minutes into the one-on-one, when O’Reilly told his former Fox co-worker that he did not know the facts of the allegations against him.
He claimed that he had not reached any agreement and was not aware of any action taken by Fox News, but Hoover did not believe him.
Bill O’Reilly was embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal while working at Fox News
At one point, Hoover began reading the op-ed he wrote in the New York Times in 2017 that applauded his firing from Fox.
“Instead, Mr. O’Reilly blamed others, adopting the victimhood he so derided from the American left. He claimed that his departure was not his fault, but the cost of doing business as a high-profile media personality,” it read.
“This is an outlandish claim. William F. Buckley and Anderson Cooper are high-profile media personalities, yet they have never had to deal with repeated instances of sexual harassment.”
When she asked her guest how he responded, he said “No,” and then accused Hoover of conducting an “ambush interview,” although Hoover claimed that her subject had anticipated her bringing up the brazen topic.
Hoover was dogmatic in her questions during the interview.
Before O’Reilly left the set, he advised Hoover not to broadcast the exchange.
“If you’re going to use that stuff, you’re going to have a problem. That’s why I’m telling you right now because that’s garbage,” O’Reilly said.
“I’m not going to record any nonsense like that. You’re going to edit this and, you know, my lawyer will be watching it.”
On Wednesday, O’Reilly’s attorney sent a legal complaint to WNET, the parent company of PBS.
She didn’t seem fazed by O’Reilly’s reactions to her questions.
Hoover said Mediate His reaction to the interview was to add that after hosting the PBS show for seven years, O’Reilly was the first guest who did not “formally end the interview with the goodbyes.”
“It’s disappointing that Bill O’Reilly, knowing he would be questioned, has not reflected on how the settlements involving him and several women have affected his ability to make a living again in the media, even as he continues, in his words, to ‘thrive’ in independent media,” she said.
She added: “Clearly, he was uncomfortable answering questions related to the sexual harassment allegations that are a significant part of his legacy.
“I also gave him the opportunity to comment on legislation intended to give victims of sexual harassment additional legal power and the evolution of workplace culture, and he declined,” she told the outlet.
On Friday, hours before the interview aired, Hoover teased and posted a clip of his interview on unknownformerly Twitter.
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