If he goes off the air for a while, will calm return?
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And he definitely knows how: He took a vacation a year ago when he was mentioned in a sexual harassment lawsuit.
As O’Reilly prepared to introduce Fox correspondent Rob Schmidt to talk about the situation, he chuckled and said, “I shouldn’t be laughing, but it’s just so freaky”.
In an official statement issued by the network, it was revealed that Mr. O’Reilly will be back on April 24.
His callous reaction comes after last weekend’s New York Times report that O’Reilly and his employer paid five women $13 million to settle harassment or other allegations of inappropriate conduct. “Which is a little surprising, because we are one of the only advertisers offering to buy time on his show at the moment”, he added, referring to the many companies who have pulled their ads from the O’Reilly Factor’s air time. Fox News has been running the program in recent days with eight to 10 minutes of extra content. Tuesday night’s broadcast contained about 10 commercials from companies like CoolSpa, Gravely Lawn Mowers, Hair Club, and Australian Dream Pain Relief. Apparently, multiple “highly placed” sources within Fox News have confirmed that 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch wants O’Reilly taken off the network “permanently”, despite the fact that his father Rupert and older brother Lachlan want to keep O’Reilly around.
“O’Reilly Factor” drew an average of just under 4 million viewers for the first three months of 2017, his biggest quarter ever in the show’s 20-year history. Fabiani said arrangements for the vacation were made in October and the timing coincides with O’Reilly’s children’s spring break. An investigation by the state agency, Bloom contends, is the only probe that “can remedy the continued illegal conduct at Fox News”. Ratings have generally increased since the election. On Monday, the host hinted at his departure after saying he would “like to take some time off around Easter” because “it’s calming”.
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It’s not clear what Trump meant by “not going into Syria”, but presumably he is talking about a ground invasion against Assad’s regime.
