After getting booted out of Fox News over multiple allegations of sexual harassment, Bill O’Reilly returns tonight as the star guest of Sean Hannity.
You probably recall that O’Reilly was ousted from Fox after “an extensive review of sexual harassment allegations against him.” That was Fox’s explanation, not any liberal accusation.
But, apparently, that’s no biggie to Hannity. Last night, the first night his show was moved back to its 9 PM time slot (from 10 PM ET), Hannity announced O’Reilly will be part of his “special, huge lineup this week.”
I was tempted to agree with Media Matters that booking O’Reilly was a big FU to Fox from Hannity. He has publicly nursed grievances against the network of late. But today, Fox couldn’t look more supportive. As Media Matters also noted, in a separate post, the network is promoting the interview during other TV shows, on FoxNews.com and on Twitter:
TONIGHT, 9p ET: @seanhannity has a must-see interview with @billoreilly. Don't miss #Hannityat9. https://t.co/iGj2o99Dm3 pic.twitter.com/IJ04XOPGOc
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 26, 2017
On September 18, O’Reilly appeared on Hannity’s radio show. Then, Hannity called O’Reilly a victim of a “liberal fascist” campaign to push him off the air. Hannity also suggested O’Reilly “come back” to Fox. At the time, O’Reilly was non-committal.
But now, O’Reilly has decided to take up Hannity on the offer.
How much more the two of them will team up remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Fox is joining Hannity in giving a big FU to its female employees in welcoming back as some kind of returning hero.
Watch Hannity’s announcement about O’Reilly’s upcoming appearance below, from the September 25, 2017 Hannity show.
I’ll be curious to see if O’Reilly is brought back into the fold by other Fox News shows on a faster timeline than previously thought. I’d always thought they’d bring him back in his preferred “Elder Statesman” position, essentially as the new Brit Hume. But O’Reilly’s too much of a back room brawler for that idea to fly very far.
Past that, O’Reilly’s appearance on the show was a fairly shocking series of vicious lies, promulgated by O’Reilly and encouraged by Hannity. It’s understandable that O’Reilly is angry that he was finally ousted for his constant sexual harassment of his co-workers, but he’s turned that anger into a scary inflation of his usual blowhard antics. For the record, Bill O’Reilly was not terminated from Fox News because the “Far Left Loons” had a vendetta against him. He was terminated for cause, after it was exposed that Fox News had paid millions to settle harassment claims and to silence the women who were speaking out about his unfortunate conduct. I note that at no time in the Hannity love-in did the men discuss the reasons for his termination. I note that at no time did O’Reilly apologize for his conduct or demonstrate even a shred of remorse.
O’Reilly did spend time promulgating his conspiracy theories about media outlets he dislikes. He spent time attacking the Left, presumably for having the temerity to stand up for themselves and not allow him to get away with bullying and harassing whoever he wished.
I note that if O’Reilly truly believes he was unfairly terminated, or that the accusations about him were “lies”, he’s being oddly reticent about actually dealing with that. If it was all lies, then where is O’Reilly’s Wrongful Termination lawsuit? Where are his slander and libel and defamation lawsuits against all these liars and peddlers? Surely O’Reilly can afford an attorney. Can’t he?