Bill O’Reilly has more to say about why Fox News let him go.
The former O’Reilly Factor host, who was ousted from the network in April after a series of sexual harassment allegations were filed against him, spoke with Matt Lauer on Tuesday’s Today about the firing, calling the Fox News dismissal a “business decision.”
“They had a contractual clause that they could pay me a certain amount of money and not put me on air. And they exercised that clause,” O’Reilly told Lauer. “There are billions of dollars at stake, and they made a business decision that they could possibly prosper more without me. It was as simple as that.”
O’Reilly stood by his original post-firing statement that he did “absolutely nothing wrong” at the network, adding that “not in 42 years… did I have any interaction with HR or any complaints filed against [me].”
Upon being asked if he’s done some soul-searching in the five months since his firing, O’Reilly put the focus instead on one of the women who accused him of harassment, who was also arrested in 2015 for filing a false police report.
“It goes to credibility, doesn’t it?” he said. “This was a hit job. A political and financial hit job.”
Before the Q&A turned to O’Reilly’s new book Killing England, Lauer asked the onetime host if there were any “self-inflicted wounds” that led to his departure from Fox News.
“Nobody’s a perfect person,” O’Reilly said, “but I can go to sleep at night very well, knowing that I never mistreated anyone on my watch in 42 years.”
Watch Lauer’s full interview with O’Reilly below, then hit the comments with your reactions to the contentious conversation.
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