On Wednesday, Bill O’Reilly’s hypocrisy finally caught up to him.
He was the man sitting at the top of a tower of demagoguery like a racist hermit atop a mountain of lies. Indeed, his fervent yet faux-conservative musings helped swaddle a significant portion of Americans in stereotypes, fake research and misconceptions, tucking them in with kisses of ignorance.
The fact that the O’Reilly Factor was one of the highest ranked so-called news shows on cable television informs us that he was very successful in helping the masses remain angry, disillusioned and totally bankrupt of any semblance of fairness.
While diversity is the clarion call of the day, a great portion of America’s population is either open to the ideas he espouses or are at least sympathetic to them.
Recently, his off hand remark about Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ wig resembling that of James Brown, his comments referring to journalist Marc Lamont Hill as someone who resembles a drug dealer, his insistence that waves of illegal immigrants are destroying the United States, and his consistent lauding of President Trump are all indicators of the manner in which his mind works.
A racist, a sexist and a man of little professional decorum, reigned supreme for years. His children once recounted a tale of seeing their father and his so-called conservative value system drag their mother down a flight of stairs, and even choke her with his bare hands. But on the show he has repeatedly spoken out against what he called a “terrible plague.” But that didn’t sink O’Reilly’s career. Nope. The torpedo that ultimate sunk his ship was fired by the Fox advertisers.
He was forced out on Wednesday after a new series of sexual harassment allegations against him were revealed along with more finds from an internal investigation by Fox. And yet, given his despicable behavior, he stands to receive as much as $25 million in a payout from Fox News after being fired.
On April 1st, the New York Times revealed that Fox News and 21st Century Fox had shielded him from harm, paying settlements with five women who complained of his behavior.
Meanwhile, more than 50 advertisers have jumped ship and women’s rights groups have been clamoring for his dismissal on a seemingly perpetual basis for decades.Though the fight was arduous, it would appear that the $13 million Fox has shelled out to fend off five sexual harassment complaints was not enough to save O’Reilly.
At the end of the day, advertisers who had stuck with the O’Reilly Factor through all the racist, muck-slinging, wife beating, hate mongering glory, decided that enough was enough. For years women and minorities have been trying to get Fox to drop the bomb on O’Reilly like Funkmaster Flex at his best.
For years it didn’t matter. Though this is considered by some to be a victory, it is a hollow one if it can be called anything at all.
O’Reilly’s dismissal will only clear the way for yet another proponent of demagoguery, blustering and blathering about issues from an unapologetic yet pseudo-ambiguously white supremacist viewpoint.
And you bet your red, white and blue gators that Bill O’Reilly will show up somewhere else relatively soon, with a multi-million dollar salary to boot. He is a proven commodity, one that large swaths of America will willingly and ravenously consume.
They are unwavering in their notion of superiority, entitlement, privilege, fear and hatred. And they are everywhere, eyes to the ready, preconceived notions and prejudices to the fore, drooling in anticipation of Bill O’Reilly’s return.
