WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly is slamming the recent burst of sexual harassment cases that have exploded throughout politics, Hollywood and the media.
“There’s an industry now that files these suits,” O’Reilly told WMAL’s Mornings on the Mall Thursday. “The press will not stop. It’s conviction by headline, and the lawyers know that,” he added.
In a far-ranging interview, O’Reilly shared his frustrations, continuing to claim his innocence against the allegations that ultimately cost him his job, while at the same time, professing to find the claims of the accusers of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore to be credible.
“The women who have come forth look credible to me as a journalist,” O’Reilly told WMAL. “If I were in Alabama, I would not vote for him,” he added.
O’Reilly was fired from his job at Fox News in April, after the New York Times reported that he had paid half a dozen women nearly $50 million to settle a series of sexual harassment cases, but his name resurfaced in the news cycle Wednesday after Matt Lauer was fired by NBC News.
O’Reilly had appeared on the Today Show in September to promote his latest book, but Lauer spent more time pushing O’Reilly hard for an explanation of his dealings with women. Clips of the interview have been widely shown on news programs as examples of Lauer’s hypocrisy, but O’Reilly tells WMAL he has no beef with Lauer.
“Matt Lauer did his job. His bosses wanted those kinds of questions asked. I went on his program to promote Killing England, because that was the first day it was out. I don’t really have any feeling about the Lauer case specifically, because I don’t know what happened. That’s the point I want to make [here]. What Americans should really want in all of these cases is justice.”
O’Reilly says he’s still seeking justice for himself. He maintains his innocence against his accusers, and he told WMAL he is preparing a series of lawsuits.
“I have put together a very strong legal team, and I’m ready to go, because at this point, I work for myself. I am on billoreilly.com, and we have presented unbelievable evidence on our website. So if someone wants to come after me now, we’re going to wind up in court.”
One place O’Reilly says he will not be making his case is in the media.
“I just don’t know what a solution is in a free society, but people need to be aware that judgments made on press accounts are wrong.”
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Fox News)
