At least 60 advertisers have dropped The O’Reilly Factor over the past week. This mass exodus, of course, followed a report about the O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox paying out a combined total of $13 million to five women who accused the host of sexual harassment. On Sunday, Brian Stelter hosted attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents one of O’Reilly’s accusers, Wendy Walsh, who came forward last week.
The Reliable Sources host replays footage of Bloom and Walsh calling a Fox News human resources hotline to report Walsh’s claim against O’Reilly. The bizarre footage shows Walsh looking puzzled at being asked to spell out O’Reilly’s name after being left on hold. However, Bloom reports to Stelter that some progress was made in the form of a promised investigation:
“On Friday, we received a return phone call from a couple of attorneys who represent Fox News. And they said that they are indeed going to do an investigation based on Wendy’s complaint. I’m told that they are taking it seriously, and they are going to do the investigation that’s legally required of them.”
When Walsh (a psychologist who made some O’Reilly Factor guest appearances) went public last week with her accusations, she alleged that O’Reilly offered to make her a contributor on his show until she rejected his advances. She says he then became nasty and rescinded all offers of help.
With news of this reported soon-to-be investigation, the host adds a terrible weekend (SNL mocked him with no regret) to his already awful week. Donald Trump did step forward to defend his pal, but the president’s words don’t carry much weight in the realm of of sexual harassment. Also, Fox is using Trump’s hot-mic footage in anti-harassment seminars, which is just … wow.