Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly read a letter on air in response to the recent scandal involving Bill O’Reilly.
The TV host’s contract was renewed after O’Reilly reached a $32 million settlement with former Fox News analyst Lis Wiehl after a sexual harassment lawsuit was threatened against him.
“O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behaviour is false. I know because I complained,” Kelly said. “Fox News was not exactly a friendly environment for harassment victims who wanted to report in my experience.”
Kelly goes on to recount an email she sent to Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy, co-presidents of Fox News, from November 2016, which she shared for the first time on air.
When Kelly’s memoir was released, which included a chapter on a scandal involving Chairman of Fox News, Roger Ailes, O’Reilly was asked about it on CBS News the same morning.
“O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false. I know because I complained.” @megynkelly on Bill O’Reilly pic.twitter.com/BO8ifQcJbu
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 23, 2017
O’Reilly responded, saying “I’m not that interested in this.”
O’Reilly continued, saying that he is not interested in something that “makes his network look bad.”
In her email, Kelly addressed his comments, saying, “Perhaps he didn’t realize the kind of message his criticism sends to young women across this country about how men continue to view the issue of speaking out about sexual harassment.”
Photo Credit: Megyn Kelly/The Today Show
Kelly says that Shine called her after the email, assuring her that O’Reilly would be dealt with, however, she says that Shine then permitted him to go on the air and attack the company's harassment victims.
Kelly says that she chose to share the email, as she believes it “speaks volumes about powerful men and the roadblocks one can face when taking them on.”
“This must stop,” concludes Kelly. “The abuse of women, the shaming of them, the threatening, the retaliation, the silencing of them after the fact. It has to stop.”
