M0rford: Let us now cheer the end of Bill O'Reilly
Let us now cheer the end of Bill O’Reilly
. . and take the Orange Goblin with you
Serious journalism for people who do not like facts or kindness or honesty or women or black people or immigrants or process or intellectual curiosity but who really love Christmas
It feels sort of… anticlimactic. It feels so far overdue as to be something we all should have been reading, and celebrating, back in, oh, 2005, along with the imminent demise of Rush, Drudge, hate radio, et al. But let us not complain overmuch, and instead relish the reports currently flooding in like a tidal wave of wary glee: The Murdochs have forced Bill O’Reilly out of Fox News, due to all those nagging sexual harassment allegations. And lo, the (tentative, downtrodden) forces of good in the world doth cheer, just a little.
Will it matter? Maybe a little. Fox’s ratings will surely take a serious hit. Noted anti-intellectual clod Sean Hannity might get O’Reilly’s prime-time slot (or maybe milquetoast Tucker Carlson). The grand pantheon of rich, sexist white ogres who helped lie, steal and hack Trump into power will shudder and congeal a little bit more. But after 20 years as Fox’s loudest, most bilious cash cow, O’Reilly will surely remain some sort of grumpy-old-man hero to the alt-right, forever attached to fellow champions of screaming intellectual degeneration like Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Peter Theil, Limbaugh, Giuliani, Drudge, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, the Tea Party, Mitch McConnell and all the rest. He had a spectacular run, in much the same way a tapeworm has a great run in your small intestine.
Do not worry about old Bill. He will be OK. He is, after all, a multi-millionaire. An alt-right superstar. He will likely get a huge severance from Murdoch. He’s been waging a brutal battle with his ex-wife for many years, trying to wrangle millions from her, too, after he lost his kids – who reportedly detest him – in a savage custody battle. We haven’t heard the last of old Bill.
. . . .
But what about his accusers? Will all those women O’Reilly allegedly harassed, mocked, taunted and threatened for all those years now feel vindicated? That some form of justice has finally been done? Maybe. Doubtful. After all, many lost their jobs, their career opportunities, their chance to be heard. And those few who weren’t paid to stay quiet, surely faced brutal swarms of hate and death threats from alt-right trolls. It’s worth remembering that Murdoch isn’t firing O’Reilly because Bill is a sexually abusive cretin. This is the network that had serial gargoyle Roger Ailes, himself an alleged sexual harasser par excellence, as its king. Moral compasses are not exactly a Fox hallmark. No, Bill is being canned because we found out about it, courtesy the NYT, particularly the $13 million in settlement money the network has already forked over to multiple women to keep them quiet. Result: The network is suddenly hemorrhaging advertising dollars.
. . . .
Farewell, stupendous hater. Be gone long, OK?
http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2017/04/19/let-us-now-cheer-the-end-of-bill-oreilly/#photo-792063
