Former Fox News employee Bill O’Reilly in a statement to his website said that his former employer put money before facts, and is no longer “fair and balanced,” only telling its audience what it wants to hear.
“Because FNC will not be completely destroyed, the usual far-left loons are disappointed. Wounded is not enough; they want death to the conservative infidels!” — Bill-O’Reilly
Bill-O explained that he lost 1,000 subscribers because he told the truth about the claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, noting he saw nothing that a court would accept.
“So be it. I did my job,” he wrote. “Money is not the motivating force in this operation. Fox News saw it differently, and now payment has been rendered. But the nightmare will continue for FNC.”
Fox News and the “No-Spin” host previously paid around $45 million in settlements to avoid publicly litigating six lawsuits against O’Reilly, five for sexual harassment and one for verbal abuse.
Two women who settled harassment lawsuits with O’Reilly ultimately filed a defamation suit asserting that that he and the network depicted them as liars, political operatives and extortionists. The defamation lawsuit was dismissed by a New York federal judge in 2019.
In 2017, Fox renewed its contract with O’Reilly one month after his $32 million sexual harassment settlement. Bill-O had the top-rated show on Fox at the time, but was eventually forced out following the ouster of Fox chairman Roger Ailes, in an attempt to overhaul the network.