Bill O’Reilly says he’s mad at God over the sexual harassment allegations that drove him off the air at Fox News earlier this year.
“You know, am I mad at God? Yeah, I’m mad at him,” the devout Catholic said on his subscription web series, according to CNN. “I wish I had more protection. I wish this stuff didn’t happen. I can’t explain it to you. Yeah, I’m mad at him.”
O’Reilly said:
“If I die tomorrow and I get an opportunity, I’ll say, ‘Why’d you guys work me over like that? Didn’t [you] know my children were going to be punished? And they’re innocent.’ But then I think about people who have it much, much rougher than me. And you know, I’m a big mouth. I’m a target. They’re not targets.”
He said again that he settled with several accusers ― including a $32 million settlement reported over the weekend by The New York Times ― to protect his family.
O’Reilly said the newspaper’s latest report was an effort to “kill” him after his new book made the bestseller lists.
“I truly believe that these people at the New York Times are out to hurt people with whom they disagree,” he said. “They don’t want me in the marketplace. That’s what this is all about.”
In 1996, American journalist O’Reilly joined the Fox News Channel and hosted The O’Reilly Factor until 2017. The O’Reilly Factor was the highest-rated cable news show for 16 years and he was described by media analyst Howard Kurtz as “the biggest star in the 20 year history at Fox News” at the time of his departure.
After a New York Times investigation revealed that O’Reilly and Fox News had settled five sexual harassment lawsuits totaling $13 million, Fox News terminated O’Reilly’s employment.