O’Reilly: ‘I should have’ fought back like Hannity

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said he should have fought back harder against critics while at the network and praised Sean Hannity for how he handled a similar situation last month.  

 

“Hannity actually fought back,” O’Reilly told Newsmax host John Bachman. “I didn’t. I should have. For reasons that I cannot explain now, I did not.”

 

O’Reilly was ousted from Fox News on April 19 amid sexual harassment claims.

 

Fellow conservative Hannity was under fire recently for covering a conspiracy theory about murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, leading the left-wing Media Matters to publish a list of his advertisers on its Twitter feed. A few advertisers bailed on the program, including military services firm USAA. 

 

{mosads}But a public outcry followed. Hannity pushed back publicly against what he called “liberal fascism” and forced USAA to reverse its decision and reinstate ads to the program. 

 

“We heard concerns from many members who watch and listen to these programs,” USAA spokesman Roger Wildermuth told The Washington Times. “Our goal in advertising has always been to reach members of the military community who would benefit from USAA’s well-known commitment to service. Today, the lines between news and editorial are increasingly blurred.”

 

“Hannity knows they’re looking to get him, but I admire Sean and how he handled the situation,” said O’Reilly, who now hosts a podcast on BillOReilly.com called “No Spin News” Monday through Thursday. 

 

“He brought it directly to the folks, and the sponsors stopped. He lost a few, but they stopped so he was successful in fighting off the attack, but there will be more,” O’Reilly predicted.

 

O’Reilly lost more than 50 advertisers after a New York Times story on April 1 reported that he paid five women $13 million in payouts over allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior.

 

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy has publicly said he is interested in bringing O’Reilly onto his network, which launched in 2014. 

 

“I may come back to television, it just depends,” O’Reilly said. “We’re living in a pretty vicious age now. Whoever I work for is going to have to have a lot of courage to stop the far left from attacking sponsors and spreading lies about people.” 

 

Sinclair, Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV and One America News are also seen as possibilities for O’Reilly’s possible return.