Megyn Kelly finally garnered some positive attention for her NBC career earlier in the week, taking aim at Bill O’Reilly and Fox News following the revelation that the host paid a $32 million to settle a sexual harassment claim and was then re-signed by the network shortly after. In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, this was a tough blow against Fox News after a year of scandal involving their hosts and former network head Roger Ailes.
Kelly railed against O’Reilly on Monday’s edition of her morning talk show, discussing her own harassment complaint against the host and accusing Fox News’ media relations chief for “her vindictiveness” in responding to those who filed complaints. She explained why she decided to speak while chatting with Seth Meyers on Wednesday’s Late Night, confirming that O’Reilly’s comments about his former female co-workers at Fox News and the settlement compelled her to speak out according to Deadline:
“That’s not nuisance value,” she continued. “$32M is a different story. And he was renewed at the company after he did it. Fox says it didn’t know. The question remains, why didn’t they? Why wouldn’t you know, why wouldn’t you ask, before you bring this man back in the workplace and unleash him on the workforce?”
“The combination of those things and what’s happening in the country, It was time to tell that story,” she continued, adding, “I take no pleasure in discussing Fox News in that way. I had a lot of good years there. And they’re not all bad – they’ve got some great people.
“He is not one of them.”
Kelly also talks about her aversion to covering politics in her new position in the morning and wanting to stay away from the news that she used to cover at her last job in Fox. Her tenure there can’t be forgotten, so it is certainly understandable why she would want to distance herself from that person. Hopefully she’ll keep with that when her Sunday night program returns in the Spring.
(Via Late Night / Deadline)