Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly went ballistic and threatened a PBS host after he questioned him about the sexual harassment allegations that led to his ouster from the network.
Margaret Hoover, host of the PBS show Firing Line, sat down for an interview with O’Reilly on Tuesday to promote her new book Confronting the Presidents.
But the interview took a turn for the worse when Hoover asked him about the more than $40 million he shelled out over sexual harassment allegations while at the network.
“I’d be a fool to drag this up,” Reilly fumed after declining to comment, then asserted, “You don’t know anything about it.”
Hoover, a Fox News contributor and guest on The O’Reilly Factor from 2007 to 2011, replied, “I know about the culture that I experienced at Fox News.”
‘All right. That’s enough,” said an exasperated O’Reilly as he threw up his hands and walked off the set while telling her, “You’ve got a problem.”
Margaret Hoover, who hosts Firing Line on PBS, is pictured interviewing former Fox host and conservative American commentator, Bill O’ Reilly.
At one point during the interview, O’Reilly is seen with both hands in the air saying, “Okay. That’s enough.’
The former Fox host worked at the network for more than two decades before being fired after The New York Times reported on the private settlements.
An incredible $13 million and an additional settlement worth $32 million went to women who accused him of sexual harassment while on the network.
The heated exchange began about 30 minutes into the one-on-one, with O’Reilly telling his former Fox colleague that he did not know the facts of the allegations against him.
He claimed he hadn’t signed it himself and that he wasn’t aware of any action taken by Fox News, but Hoover wasn’t buying it.
Bill O’Reilly was caught up in a sexual harassment scandal while at Fox News
At one point, Hoover began reading the 2017 New York Times op-ed he wrote applauding his firing from Fox.
“Instead, Mr. O’Reilly blamed others, embracing the victimization he so ridiculed of the American left. He claimed that his departure was not his fault, but the cost of doing business as ‘and a high-profile media personality,” he recited.
‘This is a strange claim. William F. Buckley and Anderson Cooper are high-profile media personalities, and yet, they have never been entangled with repeated incidents of sexual harassment.
When asked by his guest how he responded, he said, “I didn’t,” and later accused Hoover of conducting an “ambush interview,” although Hoover claimed that his subject had anticipated that she would raise the cheeky topic.
Hoover was dogmatic in his demand during the interview
Before O’Reilly left the set, he advised Hoover not to air the exchange.
“If you’re going to use this stuff, you’ve got a problem. So I’m telling you right now why it’s just bull,” O’Reilly said.
“I’m not going to record any fake shit like that. You’re going to edit this thing and, you know, my lawyer is going to look at it.
On Wednesday, O’Reilly’s lawyer sent a legal request to WNET, the parent company of PBS.
She didn’t seem flustered despite O’Reilly’s reactions to her questions
Hoover said Mediate his reaction to his sitting adding that after hosting the PBS show for seven years, O’Reilly was the first guest who did not “formally end the interview by saying goodbye.”
“It is disappointing that Bill O’Reilly, knowing he would be asked, did not reflect on how the settlements involving him and several women affected his ability to earn a living in the media again, even though he continues, in his words, “to flourish” in the independent media, he said.
She also stated: “Clearly, he was uncomfortable answering questions related to allegations of sexual harassment that are a significant part of his legacy.
“I also gave him the opportunity to comment on legislation aimed at giving victims of sexual harassment additional legal power and the evolution of workplace culture, and he declined,” he told the media.
On Friday, hours before the interview was scheduled to air, Hoover teased and posted a clip from his interview on Xfirst Twitter.