Can we just talk for a minute about how disgusting it is that a criminal harasser pig like Bill O'Reilly got paid $25 million a year to begin with?
And now he gets that for a year for leaving?
Mr. O’Reilly is receiving a payout of as much as $25 million, equivalent to one year of his salary, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. That development was met with “outrage” and “disgust” among some employees and among critics outside the company, who said it sent a message that a powerful newsroom figure could profit even after multiple sexual harassment allegations had been made against him.
“It’s terrible,” said Lisa Bloom, a lawyer who represents two women who reported sexual harassment allegations against Mr. O’Reilly. “Most people would consider $25 million a huge lottery win.”
Mr. O’Reilly’s package brought the total amount of payouts related to sexual harassment allegations at Fox News to more than $85 million — paid by the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox. The vast majority of that — as much as $65 million in exit packages — is being paid to the men who were ousted because of the allegations.
It doesn't just make me sick because it's a pig like O'Reilly. I keep thinking -- how many years of Meals on Wheels would that fund? How much progress toward clean water for Flint Michigan would that support? We won't get to those places until we demand a maximum wage or at least total financial transparency from those who purport to tell us "the news."
When multi-millionaires like Bill O'Reilly and Tom Friedman and Chuck Todd are in charge of the narrative on funding things like Social Security and our infrastructure, we deserve to know how the proposals they are discussing (or NOT discussing) affect their own individual bottom lines.
In a world of for-profit media, these kind of questions are not just an adorable wish list. Bill O'Reilly is gone because consumers terrified advertisers. This is only the beginning.
