Three former Fox News women who have all settled lawsuits against the network issued a scathing response to Sean Hannity’s plea for Bill O’Reilly to rejoin the network.
Hannity, while hosting O’Reilly on his radio show, which is not associated with Fox News, suggested that O’Reilly “go back on Fox” so that he “can take the No. 1 slot.” The suggestion, which Hannity has made before, comes 2 1/2 years after the disgraced former network host was booted from Fox after numerous sexual harassment lawsuits totaling millions in settlements were revealed.
Three former Fox News employees — Gretchen Carlson, Diana Falzone, and Julie Roginsky — all of whom have settled lawsuits related to gender discrimination and/or sexual harassment with Fox rebuked Hannity for the idea while also repeating their call for the network to release them and others from previously signed nondisclosure agreements.
“It is ironic that a man accused of sexual harassment over the course of many years by many different women is being courted to return to Fox News by its most prominent on-air personality, while his many victims and other survivors of sexual harassment at that same network continue to be bound by onerous confidentiality provisions that prevent them from disclosing what those harassers said or did to them,” the three of them said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Carlson, a former network host, and Roginsky, who was a contributor, both accused Fox News chairman Roger Ailes of damaging their careers after they refused his sexual advances. More than twenty women came forward and alleged Ailes committed similar acts against them. The network settled Carlson’s claim for $20 million. Falzone filed a discrimination lawsuit against the network after she alleged she was demoted following the publication of a piece she wrote, in which she detailed her battle with endometriosis, a painful disorder often accompanied by other severe symptoms, including infertility.
“It is also ironic that many women are bound by no-rehire provisions, which prevent them from getting their jobs back, even as Mr. Hannity is all but begging his network to rehire an accused sexual predator,” their statement continued. “This exchange once again demonstrates how far we have yet to go in ensuring that survivors of sexual assault and harassment are treated with even the modicum of respect and deference that Sean Hannity has shown an alleged serial predator. We call — again — for Fox News to release all women from non-disclosure agreements, so that the public can have a much clearer understanding of why Mr. Hannity’s words are so egregious in this respect.”
O’Reilly, who has appeared on Hannity’s radio show many times since he was removed from the network, recently started his own syndicated daily radio show called The O’Reilly Update as he has tried to restart his career.
