Margaret Hoover interviews Bill O’Reilly on PBS show Firing Line
Bill O’Reilly abruptly ended an interview with PBS host Margaret Hoover after being questioned on the allegations of sexual harassment against him, Mediaite has learned.
On Tuesday, O’Reilly sat for a pre-taped interview with Firing Line, the iconic PBS program hosted by Hoover, that lasted roughly an hour. The former Fox News star was on to promote his new book, Confronting the Presidents.
The interview took a turn, however, when Hoover, a former Fox News contributor and frequent guest on The O’Reilly Factor, confronted the 75-year-old broadcasting veteran about the tens of millions of dollars paid out to women who accused him of sexual harassment during his time at Fox.
O’Reilly was a star at the cable news network for more than two decades, until he was fired after The New York Times reported on the private settlements. O’Reilly has long denied the allegations against him.
Mediaite spoke with Margaret Hoover on Thursday night after hearing from sources about the interview gone awry. Hoover described the sit-down with O’Reilly, noting he became increasingly irritated as she asked him about the payouts that ended his long career at Fox.
“I want to go back to 2017,” Hoover said some 30 minutes into the wide-ranging interview. “You’re top rated talent at Fox News. You’ve just signed a four year deal to renew your contract, and the Times publishes a report on settlements that you had reached with several women over harassment misconduct claims totaling $13 million dollars. You’re forced out of the network. The Times later reveals an additional settlement worth $32 million dollars. I don’t expect that you can comment on this.”
O’Reilly replied: “Well, I knew it was coming. I knew you were inviting me here for a discussion and that would, that would be part of it. But I’d be a fool to dredge that up.”
Hoover then pointed to a 2017 op-ed she penned for the Times on the heels of O’Reilly’s ouster from Fox. She read him an excerpt of her piece which said in part, “Instead Mr. O’Reilly blamed others, embracing the victimization he so ridiculed of the American left. He claimed his departure was no fault of his own, but the cost of doing business as a high profile media personality. This is an outlandish claim. William F. Buckley and Anderson Cooper are high-profile media personalities, and yet, they have never been dogged with repeated sexual harassment entanglements.”
“How do you respond?” she asked.
“I don’t,” he replied.
After an extensive back and forth, O’Reilly accused Hoover of conducting an “ambush interview,” a characterization she contested by pointing out that he said he anticipated that she would bring the subject up. She also asked for his thoughts on his own post-Fox success in comparison to the struggles his accusers have faced in finding further success in the media industry.
O’Reilly repeatedly told Hoover that she did not know the facts of the allegations against him, and claimed he had made no settlements himself and that he was unaware of any actions taken by Fox News. Hoover countered that this claim could not possibly be true.
Eventually, an agitated O’Reilly warned Hoover against airing their exchange: “If you’re going to use that stuff, you’re in for a problem. So I’m telling you right now because that’s just bull.”
“I’m not going to record any phony crap like that. You’re going to edit this thing and, you know, my attorney is going to be watching,” he added, ending the interview early.
He then left the set.
“It’s disappointing that Bill O’Reilly, knowing he would be asked, has not reflected on how the settlements involving him and several women have affected their ability to earn a living in media again, even as he continues to, in his words, ‘flourish’ in independent media,” Hoover told Mediaite.
She added: “This is my seventh year hosting Firing Line, and Bill O’Reilly was the first guest on the program who didn’t formally finish the interview through the ‘goodbyes.’ Clearly, he was uncomfortable fielding questions related to the sexual harassment allegations that are a significant part of his legacy. I also gave him the opportunity to comment on legislation intended to give victims of sexual harassment additional legal power and the evolution of workplace culture, and he declined.”
On Wednesday, the day after the interview, O’Reilly’s attorney sent a legal demand to WNET, the parent company of PBS, Hoover said.
The episode is slated to air Friday night.
O’Reilly’s ouster in 2017 sent shockwaves through the industry. Over two decades he had established himself as an untouchable force in cable news, the most watched and most talked-about broadcaster on television. In the years since, he has found success with a digital show and subscription service, which draws millions of views on YouTube and other platforms.
In recent years, he has appeared frequently on NewsNation, the cable news network that targets a more centrist audience than the big three. Over the summer, he returned to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and appeared on Stewart’s podcast, The Weekly Show. For his latest book, which debuted on top of the New York Times bestseller list, he appeared on CNN for a friendly interview with Laura Coates.
In the wake of the CNN interview, which aired last week, several sources who either accused O’Reilly of misconduct or who worked with him at Fox reached out to Mediaite to express consternation with his return to CNN, where he last appeared in 2017.
“I’m glad to see Mr. O’Reilly looking so well and healthy,” said Dr. Wendy Walsh, who accused O’Reilly of sexual harassment in 2017. “I wonder how his many accusers of sexual harassment are doing? We won’t know, because they can’t speak about it. They are still muzzled by his lawyers’ NDAs. Women banned from speaking in public. I guess that’s not only a Taliban law.”
Walsh, a doctor and radio host, was once a regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor. In 2017, she alleged O’Reilly tried to sleep with her, dangling a job as a paid contributor, and eventually dumped her as a guest on his show when she declined his advances. Walsh did not sue O’Reilly or request a monetary settlement from Fox.
The settlements that ended O’Reilly’s career at Fox included a $9 million payment in 2009 to Andrea Mackris, his former producer, who later said she was unable to find work in the media industry after she left the network.
I have spent years reporting on the allegations against O’Reilly, and have interviewed his accusers, including Mackris when she first spoke out publicly. After that interview, O’Reilly sued her for breaching a non-disclosure agreement and served her with a gag order. O’Reilly also threatened to sue me personally. He did not.
Disclosure: Diana Falzone was a reporter for Fox News from 2012 to 2018.
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