Firing Line host Margaret Hoover was once a regular guest on Bill O’Reilly’s prime time Fox News show. With a new book out this month, O’Reilly must have figured all publicity is good publicity. Otherwise, it’s hard to know why he agreed to go on Firing Line, knowing that Hoover was very likely to ask about the sexual harassment cases that forced him out of Fox.
Hoover didn’t ask about the cases directly. She asked about the culture in which O’Reilly still flourishes but his accusers “will never [again] be employed in television news?”
Hoover had to know she would trigger the very thin-skinned O’Reilly rather than start any kind of thoughtful dialogue. Sure enough, that’s what she got.
“I have no idea about that at all,” O’Reilly snapped. “You got anything else?”
No, Hoover didn’t. She kicked the hornet’s nest again. “Why are you unwilling to talk about it?”
O’Reilly accused her of doing an ambush interview, which Hoover denied, then reiterated her line of questioning.
The conversation went back and forth on the subject. O’Reilly lectured Hoover condescendingly for not asking “fact-based questions.” She said, “I learned from you to ask hard questions. I know you expect nothing less.”
Then there was this: Hoover asked about a 2021 law ending forced, private arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment. It was partially spearheaded by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson.
“I don’t care about any of that,” O’Reilly snarled. “What I care about is due process. And you apparently don’t.” He accused her of having written “a diatribe” against him after he was fired from Fox. “Next time, don’t write some inflammatory essay trying to be a virtue signaler unless you know what the hell you’re talking about.”
As Hoover responded that she knew about the Fox culture she experienced, O’Reilly decided he had had enough. “All right, that’s enough, I’m not going to get into this anymore,” he said. “Got anything else on the book or anything else on history? That’s it.”
The PBS video shows O’Reilly removing his microphone after that, presumably ending the interview early. But according to Mediaite, this also happened:
O’Reilly repeatedly told Hoover that she did not know the facts of the allegations against him, and claimed he had made no settlements himself and that he was unaware of any actions taken by Fox News. Hoover countered that this claim could not possibly be true.
Eventually, an agitated O’Reilly warned Hoover against airing their exchange: “If you’re going to use that stuff, you’re in for a problem. So I’m telling you right now because that’s just bull.”
“I’m not going to record any phony crap like that. You’re going to edit this thing and, you know, my attorney is going to be watching,” he added, ending the interview early.
PBS seems to have edited out that part of the interview.
