Fox Denies That O'Reilly Has Aired Final Show

He's taking a break amid sexual harassment allegations
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2017 7:12 AM CDT
Fox Denies That O'Reilly Has Aired Final Show
Former Fox News contributor Wendy Walsh, who accuses O'Reilly of harassing her. appears at a news conference in LA earlier this month.   (AP Photo/Anthony McCartney)

Amid sexual harassment allegations and an exodus of advertisers from The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly is on vacation—or, as the Washington Post puts it, on "vacation." In a report that Fox has refuted, New York's Gabriel Sherman says several high-placed sources have told him that Tuesday night's show will be O'Reilly's last. Sherman says his Fox sources have told him that in a Murdoch family split similar to the one that preceded the departure of Roger Ailes last year, Fox CEO James Murdoch wants O'Reilly gone for good, while brother Lachlan and father Rupert Murdoch want him to stay. Sherman says lawyers who looked into Ailes' behavior are now taking a "deep dive" into list of allegations against O'Reilly.

Mediaite notes that Sherman's sources have been spot-on about Fox developments the past, though a Fox spokesperson says O'Reilly's vacation was planned before the allegations surfaced and he will be back on the air April 24. O'Reilly said the same when he announced the vacation at the end of his show Tuesday night, the AP reports. "We all need R&R," said O'Reilly, who told viewers he usually takes a break around this time of year and he booked this trip last fall. This year, The O'Reilly Factor has had its best viewing figures in its 20-year history, though around 60 companies have pulled ads from the show, which now only has about half as much advertising time as it did a few weeks ago, the Post reports. (More Bill O'Reilly stories.)

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