Bill O’Reilly ‘not interested’ in Megyn Kelly’s accusations against Ailes

One so-named chapter in the Fox News host’s memoir, Settle for More, details Kelly’s firsthand account of the sexual harassment she allegedly endured at the hands of the 76-year-old former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson raised the issue about Ailes this summer and later received $20 million and an apology from the company. On whether she’s making the company look bad, Kelly responded “I think Roger Ailes is making the company look bad”.

Kelly said she is speaking out about the sexual harassment partly because “this doesn’t just happen at Fox News”. In a separate lawsuit in August, on-air personality Andrea Tantaros named Ailes, O’Reilly and on-air contributors as having allegedly harassed her, according to the Daily Beast.

They felt sunlight was the best disinfectant, Kelly said. I mean, this is the chairman of the company – who was calling me up to meet with him in NY.

“He crossed a new line – trying to grab me repeatedly and kiss me on the lips”.

In response to O’Reilly’s comments, Kelly said, “I believe that Roger Ailes made the company look bad”. While attempting to figure out if other female coworkers had been harassed by Ailes, Kelly writes that she finally brought it up to a supervisor, who vouched for Ailes.

Kelly’s book also has caused some tension among her colleagues at Fox News.

“There were a few themes that came out of 2016, and one of them is, as women, we have a long way to go, a long way to go”, Kelly told Times columnist Jim Rutenberg.

“That would have been a suicide mission for me and my career”, she said explaining that her advances happened after she had been working at the company for only 12 months. I mean you even got promoted I think when you were away for one of them as I recall from the book.

Kelly acknowledged that Ailes was a loyal and supportive boss during most of her tenure at Fox News.

O’Donnell: “In sexual harassment?” Go to human resources or leave. “We do honest work there”, he said. Kelly told the AP that she believed things were fine now between her and Trump, but some of the incoming president’s fans didn’t appear over it.

Before the interview, learn a little more about Kelly.

O’Reilly also said he wishes Kelly well, calling her “a very smart woman”.

And in the book I say, “How could he have known that?” “But my own experience with him proves that he’s able to let things go if he so chooses”. And I think that can lead to a change in coverage.

Throughout the siege, Kelly said she was convinced Trump was trying to bait her into saying something that would disqualify her from covering the campaign, and she didn’t want to be accused of favoring Hillary Clinton. A low point came when her daughter returned home from school and asked her mother what a bimbo was.

Kelly, 45, is seen as a major part of Fox’s future and network management is eager to sign her beyond her current contract, which expires next July. “The network posted its highest ever week of ratings over the five-day period from Monday through Friday…in primetime, Fox News posted a staggering 6,003,000 viewers, besting CNN, which came in second with 4,315,000…” But it would be an expensive gambit.

MCEVERS: Megyn Kelly’s new book is called “Settle For More”.