Bill O’Reilly Threatened To Sue PBS Host Asking About Abuse Settlements
Firing Line host Margaret Hoover was once a regular guest on Bill O’Reilly’s prime time Fox News show. With a new book out this month, O’Reilly must have figured all publicity is good publicity. Otherwise, it’s hard to know why he agreed to go on Firing Line, knowing that Hoover was very likely to ask about the sexual harassment cases that forced him out of Fox.
Hoover didn’t ask about the cases directly. She asked about the culture in which O’Reilly still flourishes but his accusers “will never [again] be employed in television news?”
Hoover had to know she would trigger the very thin-skinned O’Reilly rather than start any kind of thoughtful dialogue. Sure enough, that’s what she got.
“I have no idea about that at all,” O’Reilly snapped. “You got anything else?”
No, Hoover didn’t. She kicked the hornet’s nest again. “Why are you unwilling to talk about it?”
O’Reilly accused her of doing an ambush interview, which Hoover denied, then reiterated her line of questioning.
The conversation went back and forth on the subject. O’Reilly lectured Hoover condescendingly for not asking “fact-based questions.” She said, “I learned from you to ask hard questions. I know you expect nothing less.”
Then there was this: Hoover asked about a 2021 law ending forced, private arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment. It was partially spearheaded by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson.