(Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)
The New York Times reported on Saturday — no, it was not an April Fool’s joke — that through the years, Fox News (or O’Reilly himself) paid ~$13 million to women who have accused their star, Bill O’Reilly, of sexual harassment. The Times found five women who received hush money after making accusations about the star:
The reporting suggests a pattern: As an influential figure in the newsroom, Mr. O’Reilly would create a bond with some women by offering advice and promising to help them professionally. He then would pursue sexual relationships with them, causing some to fear that if they rebuffed him, their careers would stall.
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Though the Times reports that O’Reilly denies the claims have merit, Fox News was seemingly willing to keep paying to keep them out of the court system. Say what you will about the deficiencies of courts to actually achieve justice, the public-ness of the proceedings (not to mention the discovery process) can certainly strike fear in the hearts of many.
While some of the allegations the Times covered had previously been made public, the article revealing the number of claims and the dollar amounts associated with them seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back — or at least the PR debacle that pulled the advertiser’s dollars. At current count over 20 advertisers have pulled (or have publicly committed to pulling) their ads from The O’Reilly Factor.
Mercedes-Benz was the first to flinch, telling BuzzFeed News: “The allegations are disturbing and, given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don’t feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now.”
Then Hyundai:
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Full statement from Hyundai spokesman on decision to pull ads from The O'Reilly Factor, following sexual harassment allegations. pic.twitter.com/EBBAvBD8bA
— Emily Steel (@emilysteel) April 4, 2017
After that, the hits just kept on coming, here is the current list of advertisers that have spurned O’Reilly:
Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Mitsubishi Motors, T. Rowe Price, Wayfair, Bayer, Credit Karma, Lexus, BMW, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare, Constant Contact, GlaxoSmithKline, Allstate, Untuckit, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Ancestry.com, Coldwell Banker, Orkin, TrueCar, The Society for Human Resource Management, Advil, H&R Block, Amica, Touchnote.
And BuzzFeed reached out to 50 advertisers, many of which indicate they are reviewing their ad buys.
This is exactly what Fox News hoped to avoid by settling with O’Reilly’s accusers out of court. They likely believed contracting away these women’s ability to publicly talk about their allegations would prevent exactly the sort of media sh*tstorm that has now left a wide variety of advertisers unwilling to associate with the Bill O’Reilly. The combination of investigative journalism and the good ol’ free market has done what the legal system was helpless to do — hold a celebrity with a massive platform accountable for allegations of rampant sexual harassment.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).