Oh, Really O’Reilly’s Gone

April 20, 2017

Ah, before we take a victory lap, before we add one to the win column, before we start Photoshopping Bill O’Reilly applying for Obamacare mimes lets reflect on the O’Reilly exploit. It won’t take long; it’s not that complicated.

So, O’Reilly was fired from Fox yesterday. Well, not exactly fired. Fox’s people and Bill’s people are working something out – an agreement where Bill stops appearing on Fox, Fox gives Bill a bunch of money and, most importantly, Bill promises to shut up about anything Fox related. The bunch of money will be in the tens of millions, which seems a reasonable expense just to shut him up.

Bill and Fox are entering into this agreement because Bill’s public persona has become unpopular with advertisers. Oh, and he keeps getting sued for sexual harassment – which is why he’s out of favor with sponsors. It’s a vicious cycle – a befittingly vicious cycle.

Fox has already paid out thirteen million and change to settle harassment claims against Bill and requests for money keep coming in. But, perhaps, the most brutal blow occurred when a couple of the women Bill harassed indicated they didn’t want money – no, they wanted the story told.

Fox, who’s committed to the “pay them to shut up” justice system, was understandably confused at first. They had the money, but the “alleged” victims weren’t cooperating. That kind of story telling would be bad for business. But, eventually, Fox realized their mistake: they had offered the money to the wrong party. So now, they’re giving the bucks to Bill; Bill’s going away; problem solved.

Well, for Fox the problem’s solved. For the rest of us, we get a sexual predator running around who was rewarded for his behavior. Perhaps not the best social engineering choice. Plus, isn’t sexual harassment like a crime – you know, covered in criminal code? Shouldn’t Bill be facing arrest and a trial rather than a multimillion dollar early retirement?

I think it’s fair to assume that if you, gentle reader, or I were accused of similar crimes, we would be defending ourselves in court – not vacationing on our mountain of windfall cash. It’s almost like we have a two-tiered justice system with one set of rules for the very rich and another for the rest of us. And it sucks to be us.

See, not that complicated.

The republic recognizes the similarity between the O’Reilly behavior and the Donald’s, but is encouraged by Trump’s lack of any new sexual harassment suits over the last one-hundred-sixty-three days since the election. While, there is concern about the fifty to sixty other law suits filed against Trump since take over, mostly, we’re pleased that Trump seems to have outgrown his old predatory ways.

We remain concerned with the new predatory ways he’s grown into.

In Peace and justice,
osv