As outrage grows over the sexual harassment accusations surrounding Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, 62 advertisers have now pulled their commercials from the pundit’s popular show, The O’Reilly Factor.
The decisions come after a New York Times report that five women received about $13 million from O’Reilly or Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, to settle accusations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior by O’Reilly. The women were paid “in exchange for agreeing not to pursue litigation or speak about their accusations against him,” according to the Times.
Representatives for 21st Century Fox told the Times that O’Reilly denies the “merits of these claims” but that he “has resolved those he regarded as his personal responsibility.” The company also said it “takes matters of workplace behavior very seriously” and that “Mr. O’Reilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News.”
But the Fox’s response has not calmed the situation. Many companies that advertise on The O’Reilly Factor have seen intense pressure on social media to stop running ads on the show. Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai were the first companies to pull their spots, doing so on Monday, just two days after the Times report. Most recently MyPillow, Pfizer and LendingTree have all looked into pulling their ads from O’Reilly’s show.
Now the group Sleeping Giants, which has been leading a campaign to encourage companies to stop advertising on Breitbart.com, launched an O’Reilly boycott as well. The group is keeping track of companies who say they will pull ads from O’Reilly’s show and has been celebrating their progress on Twitter.
If advertisers continue to boycott O’Reilly, Fox News, which is still dealing with fallout from sexual harassment charges against former chairman Roger Ailes, may be forced to take action. But for now, the network said Thursday that companies pulling ads from The O’Reilly Factor would have their dollars allocated to other Fox shows. “We value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about the O’Reilly Factor. At this time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs,” Paul Rittenberg, executive vice president of advertising sales at Fox News said in a statement.
Poster Comment:
Looking like Bill O'Reilly is becoming Bill Cosby's white doppleganger...
#1: no gnu taxes To: Willie Green (#0)
no gnu taxes posted on 2017-04-08 13:24:50 Reply Private Reply
#2: Justified To: no gnu taxes, Willie Green (#1)
Justified posted on 2017-04-08 14:44:59 Reply Private Reply
#3: Tooconservative To: Willie Green (#0)
O'Reilly is still FNC's biggest draw but even he can't be immune to advertiser boycotts. And Tucker has a more desirable demographic and has been much more successful than Meghan Kelly ever was, especially with younger viewers in the key demographic group.
Tucker's success shows that O'Reilly can be replaced and possibly in short order. I just can't quite imagine who in the FNC stable could step in and hold on to his audience.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-04-08 15:00:16 Reply Private Reply
#4: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#3)
Gatlin posted on 2017-04-08 15:29:04 Reply Private Reply
#5: Tooconservative To: Gatlin (#4)
If O'Reilly departs, it will be sudden. Like Beck. Like Roger Ailes. Like the cancellation of FNC's Red Eye show this week.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-04-08 15:36:33 Reply Private Reply
#6: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#5)
Gatlin posted on 2017-04-08 15:45:28 Reply Private Reply
#7: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#5)
O'Reilly may be leaving...I can see that.
But the comparison of Beck to O'Reilly on staying power….I cannot see that.
Gatlin posted on 2017-04-08 15:50:11 Reply Private Reply
#8: Tooconservative To: Gatlin (#7)
And O'Reilly is not comparable to Rush.
I think it wouldn't take much for O'Reilly to get the boot. He belongs to the Ailes era and his peccadilloes with the wenches at FNC are similar to what Ailes did.
That stuff about O'Reilly calling up these women breathing heavy and playing some solitaire over the phone is what is likely to get him off the air. If it was one or two, yeah, he'd probably survive. But he has a number of accusers over a lot of years.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-04-08 16:23:54 Reply Private Reply
#9: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#8)
I would not have any problem seeing him replaced....I quit watching him some time back.
Gatlin posted on 2017-04-08 19:01:31 Reply Private Reply