In an unusual attack on a former employer, the NBC host Megyn Kelly used her morning show on Monday to denounce her former Fox News colleague Bill O’Reilly and the cable network where she used to work.
Ms. Kelly’s remarks came after The New York Times reported on Saturday that Mr. O’Reilly paid Lis Wiehl, a former Fox News legal analyst, $32 million to settle sexual harassment allegations. A statement posted on Mr. O’Reilly’s website on Saturday described The Times’s article as a “smear piece.”
“I spent this weekend on the phone nonstop, talking to many women at Fox News and otherwise, who are deeply disturbed over the latest New York Times report,” Ms. Kelly said at the start of her show, “Megyn Kelly Today.”
Ms. Kelly distinguished herself during her years at Fox News with her tough questioning of guests. Her NBC persona was supposed to be sunnier, but her prosecutorial streak was in evidence Monday as she invoked the O.J. Simpson case while discussing Mr. O’Reilly.
After citing the $32 million sum, Ms. Kelly said, “That is a jaw-dropping figure.” She added. “O.J. Simpson was ordered to pay the Goldman and Brown families $33.5 million for the murders of Ron [Goldman] and Nicole [Brown Simpson]. What on earth would justify that amount? What awfulness went on?”
Ms. Kelly had also invited Juliet Huddy, another former Fox employee who reached a settlement agreement after accusing Mr. O’Reilly of sexual harassment, to be a guest on the show Monday.
“O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false. I know because I complained.” @megynkellyon Bill O’Reilly
In her remarks, Ms. Kelly also described an email she sent to top Fox executives last November.
At the time, Ms. Kelly had published a book in which she outlined sexual harassment claims concerning Roger E. Ailes, the former Fox News chief executive. Mr. Ailes was let go from the network after an investigation into several other claims; he died this year.
The day that Ms. Kelly’s book came out, Mr. O’Reilly appeared on “CBS This Morning” to promote his latest book. Asked on the show to comment on Ms. Kelly’s allegations, he said he was “not interested.”
“I am not interested in basically litigating something that is finished that makes my network look bad,” Mr. O’Reilly said.
Source: nytimes
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