Megyn Kelly Today becomes platform for Bill O’Reilly discussion (video)
Early on during Monday morning’s broadcast Kelly chose to share for the first time a communication between her and some of her then-bosses at Fox News over Bill O’Reilly’s dismissal of harassment victims during an interview on CBS News, saying largely that he refused to speak negatively against his own network in another forum. In her words, this was O’Reilly choosing to ignore horrible allegations against his one-time boss Roger Ailes just because it would make an employer unhappy. It was silencing victims for the sake of the bottom line, something that everyone should be against.
Kelly, like O’Reilly, is no longer with Fox News, and Kelly’s statement today is prompted by reports in the New York Times over the weekend that Fox chose to offer O’Reilly a new contract even after settling harassment allegations. O’Reilly has since fought back against some of the reporting, saying that there was never a complaint filed against him and in turn continuing what is in effect a vicious cycle that probably won’t be ending anytime soon. There will be claims brought against him, he will deny them, rinse, and repeat. He wants to maintain what he believes to be his own perceived legacy. (Yet, Kelly claims that she did complain about O’Reilly, bringing us back to why she made this statement.)
We tend not to weigh too much into hard news or cable-news politics on CarterMatt simply because A) we like to keep things fairly positive here and B) there are already a number of other venues for a lot of this. Nonetheless, what Kelly did this morning is important in an era were so many mean accused of allegation or worse are finally starting to see their terrible indiscretions brought to light. The alleged acts themselves are terrible, but the same goes often for what is done in order to keep them secret. Sometimes it can come via settlements, whereas other times (such as Harvey Weinstein) things can continue because of so many people being willing to look the other way for the advancement of their own career.
All of this has to stop, and the only way in which it will is if the truth comes to light and those who were quiet start to speak up. Say whatever you will about Kelly’s show and whether or not you like it, it does take a degree of bravery to come on the air this morning and say what she did knowing at this point that there will be both supporters and detractors. We’ve regrettably seen many times over this year instances where, even when facing substantial evidence to the contrary, people on social media continue to blame victims and those speaking out in some of the most horrific ways imaginable.
You can watch some of what Kelly had to say in her morning segment in the video below. Meanwhile, we welcome your (respectful) thoughts on the subject in the comments.
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