I eagerly await the cries of “Censorship!” from the usual crowd.
Probably, though this one seems to have some legs, really kind of blown up with some fairly large companies. Of course it’s much more likely we’ll get some half-assed apology and business as usual rather than a Roger Ailes sequel, but hey a guy can hope.
Edit: up to 19 companies now.
Is it just me that finds it strage that sexual harassment is finally getting highlighted at Fox news, but Trump gets a pass and hand wave from his supporters?
Not really, Trump isn’t and wasn’t really beholden to anyone. O’Reilly and Ailes ultimately are responsible to the network. The people suing them aren’t really afraid of backlash. Hell, one of them was nearly as big a personality on the network as Bill is.
Rest assured the Fox News viewers don’t give a flying fuck about it.
I would believe that. The advertisers leaving though … seems more serious.
Sometimes I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. This information about O’Reilly being garbage isn’t new. I’m all for whatever drives this dirtbag off the air, but where were all these concerned advertisers in 2004? Or 2010? Or last year?
This stuff drives me crazy. It’s like how people were suddenly shocked that Trump was a massive douche during the election and onward. Where were these people in the 80’s and 90’s?
To that end, it happens all the time, then they slowly trickle back. It takes a large wave to sink a big ship. As an example, remember a few years ago when Rush Limbaugh made comments about a woman, Susan Fluke, who wanted health insurance to cover contraceptives. Huge uproar, advertisers left. He’s still on the air, and still has advertisers. In contrast, Remember when Don Imus made the, “nappy-headed hos,” comment about the Rutger’s womens basketball team? Not only was there a loss of advertisers, he was subsequently fired.
Who knows what will happen for O’Reilly.
The thing that we may see with Fox, is that these days it’s being run more directly by Murdock’s sons, and they are less prone to defending this kind of bullshit.
They see the writing on the wall… that Fox’s monolithic viewer base of ancient white men is literally dying. They know that for Fox to survive in the coming years, they need to start appealing to someone other than old white guys.
That may, MAY, force them to move away from this kind of bullshit.
Somebody sure is. Probably not you, if that’s any consolation.
Trump says O’Reilly is a good man.
[quote]
The president then went on to defend Mr. O’Reilly, who has hosted him frequently over the years.
“I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person,” said Mr. Trump, who during the interview was surrounded at his desk by a half-dozen of his highest-ranking aides, including the economic adviser Gary Cohn and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, along with Vice President Mike Pence.
“I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled,” said Mr. Trump. “Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.”[/quote]
Don’t forget he was an oxy-addict who was obtaining the pills illegally. Somehow that didn’t sink him either.
Yep, I nearly forgot that one. You could say he was a trendsetter back then I guess. I wonder if he’s on board with medical marijuana now?
Because advertisers want people other than Fox News watchers to buy their shit.
He literally just settled a 25 million dollar fraud suit.
Yeah, but that’s only because he was going to be too busy running the country. And winning. Don’t forget all the winning.
Holy crap, we’re at 43 companies having pulled ads from O’Reilly Factor.
And it was of course the gutter tabloid The New York Times that forced Trump to comment on Bill O’Reilly.
… Nah, just joshing. It was of course a self-inflicted error:
Man, I wish. He’s probably just taking a break to prepare for a shiny new post at the White House.