Home WebMail Friday, November 1, 2024, 06:33 AM | Calgary | -3.8°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Posted: 2017-04-18T20:44:45Z | Updated: 2017-04-19T03:13:34Z

NEW YORK, NY On Tuesday, a few dozen women and men gathered outside of Fox News headquarters to send one simple message: fire Bill OReilly.

Hey hey, ho ho, Bill OReillys got to go, chanted protesters, holding signs with slogans like, Talk to me about revolution and a world without rape!!, and the more straightforward, Fox: Fire Sexual Predator Bill OReilly.

Womens group UltraViolet staged the protest in response to the allegations of sexual harassment made against the OReilly Factor host, which the New York Times first reported on earlier this month .

Fox and OReilly have reportedly paid out a collective $13 million over the course of 15 years to settle the claims of five different women. The allegations against OReilly included verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances and phone calls in which it sounded as if Mr. OReilly was masturbating. (Two of the settlements were reached after former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes left the company in the wake of his own sexual harassment scandal .)

Tuesday morning, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a new accuser came forward with allegations of harassment through the Fox News hotline. The woman, who has been identified as an African-American clerical worker at the network, said (through her attorney, Lisa Bloom) that OReilly would leer at her, and called her hot chocolate.

OReilly is currently on a two-week vacation , which he claims had been planned since last year. In his absence, advocates have been vocal in their insistence that he not be allowed to return to air. The Intelligencer reported that while no final decision has been made, the Murdochs are leaning toward announcing that OReilly will not return to the air.

Speakers at todays demonstration connected a culture of condoning workplace sexual harassment with President Donald Trump , an accused sexual predator who has publicly defended OReilly .

It is outrageous that Fox News is even considering whether or not they should fire Bill OReilly. Its not a question, said speaker Melissa Quesinberry of NOW-NYC, who is a rape crisis advocate and sexual assault survivor. We have a man in the highest position of power right now our president who is a serial sexual predator who came out and said, immediately without hearing the details of whats going on, with this Bill OReilly scandal that he did nothing wrong; that he was a nice guy. Well, thats not the story that were hearing from all of these women. So by not condemning this behavior, Fox News is elevating it to a pervasive level, demonstrating to all of their employees that this is acceptable, that it is expected and allowed. It is not.