In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, O’Reilly spends some time defending his bestie Donald Trump’s warm feelings towards white supremacists and promoting his website, which he says is “extremely lucrative.” He hasn’t yet decided if he’ll return to TV, though there are offers on the table, don’t worry.
When asked about his last few weeks at Fox, as the accusations snowballed into his forced departure, O’Reilly says his lawyers are handling all comments on the subject. He wouldn’t say if he ever spoke to the grand-pappy of sexual harassment, Roger Ailes, during that tumultuous time, but he will say this for the deceased:
Do you have any thoughts on Roger’s death?
I mean, it was terrible. I don’t know what Roger Ailes did or did not do [with regard to sexual harassment charges]. But I feel so sorry for his wife and son, who are good, good people. Very loyal to him, and that says something about Roger.
When asked how he felt about losing his reputation and job so suddenly, O’Reilly implies that he’s been waiting for the killing blow on his career for some time. Not because he’s actually guilty of anything, but because all white, rich, powerful men get their comeuppance eventually:
I’ve had a terrific career, and I’m a lucky guy, and I’m not, you know, one of these guys that wants to hang on to the cliffs. You don’t want me working for you, that’s fine. They made a decision. It was purely a business decision. But the way it was done, I’m over in Rome [on vacation]. My [legal] team was caught by surprise because we had an amazing amount of exculpatory stuff that we had presented. And it just — it was sad. That’s the word, sad.
Did you feel like you had support from colleagues at the network?
I didn’t ask anybody to do anything. I didn’t want anybody to get involved. Once you get a famous name, and once you’re in the political arena, the combination is devastating. If they can get you, they’re going to get you. And so we warded it off for 20 years, and then finally, you know, all of this happened, and that was it.
He also thinks we should leave Megyn Kelly alone, she’s doing fine! You can read more of O’Reilly’s opinions about Kelly’s hair here.
