Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly appeared on The Today Show to address the toxic culture of sexual harassment at her former network, and she specifically called out Bill O’Reilly for his repeated denials that anyone ever directly complained to the human resources department about his behavior. Kelly said O’Reilly is lying and as proof, she read an email that she herself sent to the president of the network and human resources about him, and she ran clips of O’Reilly discounting the claims of women who accused Fox stars of harassment.
Fan of Megyn Kelly or not, this is an exceptional, must-watch statement on the culture of Fox News and how O’Reilly’s actions are precisely the kind of behavior that enabled and/or encouraged a culture of harassment, which bullied women into silence.
Watch the video and read the full transcript below.
Bill O’Reilly called the Times report a vicious smear, claiming that no woman in twenty years ever complained to human resources or legal about him. Maybe that is true. Fox News was not exactly a friendly environment for harassment victims who wanted to report, in my experience.
However, O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false. I know because I complained. It was November of 2016, the day my memoir was released. In it I included a chapter on Ailes and the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News, something the Murdochs knew I was doing and to their credit, approved.
O’Reilly happened to be on CBS that morning. That asked him about my book and about Ailes, who by this time had been forced out in disgrace. O’Reilly’s response?
[Clip of him on CBS saying he had no interest in Kelly re-hashing her own sexual harassment claim against Ailes because he didn’t want to hurt the network]
I did something that day I’ve never done before. I wrote an email to the co-presidents of Fox News, Bill Shine and Jack Abernathy. An email I have never shared before now. Because I think it speaks volumes about powerful men and the roadblocks one can face when taking them on. I wrote, in part:
“Perhaps he didn’t realize the kind of message his criticism sends to young women across the country about how men continue to view the issue of speaking out about sexual harassment.
Perhaps he didn’t realize that his exact attitude of shaming women into shutting the hell up on the grounds it will disgrace the company is in part how Fox News got into the decade long Ailes mess to begin with.
Perhaps it’s his own history of harassment of women, which as you both know, resulted in payouts to more than one woman, including recently, that blinded him to the folly of saying anything other than, ‘I’m sorry for the women of this company who never should have to go through that.’”
Bill shine called me in response to my email, promising to deal with O’Reilly. By 8:00 PM that night, O’Reilly had apparently been dealt with. And by that I mean, he was permitted, with management’s advance notice and blessing, to go on the air and attack the company’s harassment victims yet again.
[Clip of O’Reilly saying if you don’t like what’s happening at your company, leave on his Fox show]
This is not unique to Fox News. Women everywhere are used to be dismissed, ignored or attacked when raising complaints about men in authority positions. They silence so often out of fear. Fear of ending their careers, fear of lawyers, yes, and often fear of public shaming, including through the media.
At Fox News, the media relations chief, Irena Briganti, is known for her vindictiveness. To this day she pushes negative articles on certain Ailes accusers like the one you are looking at right now.
It gives me no pleasure to report such news about my former employer, which has absolutely made some reforms since all of this went down. But this must stop. The abuse of women, the shaming of them, the threatening, the retaliation, the silencing of them after the fact. It has to stop.
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