Last week, Bill O’Reilly was finally fired from Fox News. As I said then, all of the stories about O’Reilly’s harassment of women in the workplace came across as very “Mad Men,” meaning that to my mind, the Fox News office operates like a dated throwback to when men would literally hire the “prettiest girl” to be their secretary and then have her fired if she didn’t sleep with them. And at the end of the day, sources claim that O’Reilly left Fox News with a $25 million severance package and that’s on top of the millions Fox News paid out to all of O’Reilly’s harassment victims over the years.
People within Fox News were cautious about celebrating the end of the O’Reilly Era, mostly because within days of O’Reilly’s ousting, another legal nightmare popped up – seven African-American employees at Fox News are joining an ongoing racial discrimination lawsuit against the cable outlet. Again, the stories come across as… horrible and dated, from a bygone era. You can read more here. And now this – this rolling scandal might end up taking down Sean Hannity! Conservative pundit Debbie Schlussel claimed this weekend that Hannity sexually harassed her:
And on Sunday, conservative pundit Debbie Schlussel said that gun-wielding Trump confidante Sean Hannity sexually harassed her before and after she appeared on his Fox News show.
Schlussel described the harassment in an interview with Oklahoma radio host Pat Campbell. “[Hannity] had some event at a bookstore where he signed his book for people standing in line. He asked me to come meet him at this book signing. So, I met him there and it was very awkward. He had me up there with him while he signed books and I felt very weird. These people don’t know me and they didn’t come for me to sign their books,” she said. “Then I left to get ready for the show, and he said, ‘Why don’t you come back with me to my hotel?’ and I said no, I have to get ready for the show.”
Schlussel said that as she and Hannity were preparing to go on the air, he told her that they would “double-team” the show’s other guest, which Schlussel thought was “a weird phrase to use.” She continued: “And then, every time I tried to open my mouth and say something, they yelled at me and said obey your host, you can’t say anything or else we’re gonna shut off your microphone.” Schlussel said that after the show, Hannity again asked her to come to his hotel. She rejected the offer.
Schlussel said that Hannity then called her on the phone. “[He] yelled at me and it was made clear to me that I didn’t go back to his hotel with him. And I got a very weird feeling about the whole thing, and I kind of knew I wouldn’t be back on his show,” she said. “I wasn’t booked on a show again.”
In a statement sent to the New York Daily News, Hannity called the allegations “100% false and a complete fabrication.” He went on to claim that Schlussel had “a history of making provably false statements against me” (she’s previously written that Hannity’s charity misused money and accused him of plagiarizing her work) and threatened to sue her.
During her interview, Schlussel alluded to other instances of “not above board” behavior by Hannity and his male coworkers. She added: “This kind of stuff is all over the place at Fox News,” which, at this point, is pretty clear.
Hannity is basically more “Bill O’Reilly” than Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly is and was a pig, a degenerate, a sexist, a racist and a douchebag. Hannity is somehow worse though. Hannity never even pretends to be anything other than an ignorant shill for the worst of right-wing politics. In past year, he’s been all about that Easy D too, meaning Emperor Bigly. And this story – coming from a conservative pundit! – seems like Peak Hannity. If you care, you can read Hannity’s full denial here.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Good bloody grief, it’s like Sex Pest Central over there.
They had former Senator Centerfold Scott Brown working there for a while too. All thewomen I know who worked at the Massachusetts State House while he was in the state legislature have stories of him behaving inappropriately to just about every woman under the age of 60.
It’s um… bloody hell, you know? Total institutional culture.
I hope Hannity goes! Have they had to pay off anybody for him?
Good riddance to the lot of them.
Honestly they can get rid of the entire network and I wouldn’t be sad
There is a God and She has finally had enough of all the d*ckheads. Hope to see them go down one by one, sooner rather than later. Not sure what it will take to bring down Bigly, but I do hope She has a plan in place… (and I say this as a non-believer)
Amen.
I saw a bumper sticker on a car in the grocery store parking lot: God is coming and She is PISSED. I died laughing like a weirdo.
And you know what the sad thing is? Women my age (late twenties) who are college educated no less, “sharing” in social media how they demand Bill O’Reilly be reinstated back into Fox News because he is the best “host”. That to me is unbelievable and sad. How far and profound the brainwashing is.
Or they just believe that you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That principle is the bedrock of an independent judiciary. It protects us all.
Or, they believe that he should be allowed to continue to harass women, by placing him back in a position of power, because for some reason they blame victims.
Either/or.
Workplace sexual harassment cases are civil, not criminal, so no, there would NEVER be a “proven guilty in a court of law” moment. That principle is the bedrock of CRIMINAL LAW. Stop pushing forward the wrong principles to protect wrongdoers.
Lightpurple Many of the allegations made against Bill O’Reilly could be prosecuted in a criminal trial in New York.
to add to what lightpurple said, cara, if Fox news wanted to (and could) defend their hosts and themselves in a civil suit, don’t you think they would?
and further, doesn’t the fact that Fox has paid out millions rather than go to court tell you something about how they see their chances in court?
Innocent until proven guilty? They didn’t send him to jail. He lost his job for being an a$$ at work. Bit different.
@Cara, CIVIL lawsuits were filed. Violations of the EEOA and comparable state laws on workplace harassment are NOT brought in criminal court. Police and district attorneys were not involved as they are in criminal cases. The lawsuits were brought against O’Reilly AND the employer. Those are CIVIL cases. There is never a “guilty” or “innocent” plea. Judges and the administrative agencies that handle such cases start do encourage mediation and settlement strongly but the amount of monies Fox has been shelling out on these cases far exceed simple settlement “go away” money. You don’t pay several million dollars to make a sexual harassment lawsuit go away unless there really was sexual harassment with significant damage. THIS is what I currently do for a living. Sorry, Cara, but you clearly do not know what you are talking about here.
@Lightpurple Marry me and have my babies. Legal talk by an actual lawyer. Thank you for your knowledge.
P.S. My mom is a retired attorney. Much love for the profession.
Who is tending the bridge in your absence, Cara?
@Ostone…And they all are probably part of that female demographic that voted for Trump and against their own best interests.
Sadly, it’s a bit like adult, feminists excusing Bill Clinton, because he support abortion rights, isn’t it??
Please lord, tell me women are gonna end this sexual harassment factory.
It’s “hard” to believe Fox is on the air, but since Trump’s base doesn’t seem to have a problem with his love of his daughter, his three marriages and a myriad of accusers, not really surprising. Getting rid of Hannity would be a victory for me, hate him. All of these loving family men. Hoping the talking heads at CNN have managed to keep themselves in check….going to be a witch hunt soon.
” All of these loving family men.”
isn’t that always the way it goes? those who act so pious are the ones hitting on anything with a hoo-ha. those who rail against homosexuals and/or accuse them of all being pedophiles wind up getting caught toe-tapping in an airport bathroom or sending sexual texts to their underage interns. and Drumpf is the king of “accuse others of that which you are guilty”. it’s the old “look over there!” tactic.
@ DOOFUS-I wholeheartedly agree with every word in your post, but with one exception: I absolutely NEVER EVER capitalize “drumpf” 😏
oops! my mistake, I try not to, either. 😉
So now the Human Thumb is an assaulter too?
What next for this failing network?
SAD! DISASTER!
Look up Debbie Schlussel before you buy her story. She accuses everyone of doing bad things. She was also active in investigating Obama’s selective service registration. She’s a little off.
+1
Debbie Schussel has already backtracked on her sexual harassment “accusations”. She’s unreliable and messy, and unfortunately these kinds of antics will allow enough reasonable doubt to let the majority of Fox watchers dismiss all the accusations/allegations against the men of this network.
Here’s hoping Rupert Murdoch’s sons are going for the gold and trying to finally clean house of all of Roger Ailes protégées. I don’t excpect the essence of Fox News to ever change (it will always be a conservative, hateful platform) but at least there won’t be any Beck, O’Reilly and hopefully Hannity spewing their deranged racism over the airways.
“sexual assault enteprise”. Maxine Watters said it better than anybody else.
I am shocked, shocked, to hear this completely unexpected news.
Bill O’reilly years ago I thought he was not a bad journalist. He seemed kind of fair and compasionate. I know better now of course, but Sean Hannity I could not stand even looking at him. His smug arrogance, his rudeness to guests who did not agree with him. Sean Hannity was even rude to his co-host Alan Colmes. Listening to Hannity makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I would call Hannity a tool, but that would incorrectly imply he was useful for something.