In 2017, Fox News ousted its most popular personality, Bill O’Reilly. Years later, the network did the same by ejecting top-rated host Tucker Carlson.
On Wednesday evening, both men engaged in a discussion about, among other things, their respective experiences at the cable news network.
“Why would they fire the guy, in your case, who dominated the space?” Carlson asked O’Reilly during a segment of the interview. “That just seems [to be] acting against interest. How did you keep yourself from getting bitter?”
O’Reilly did not miss a beat, responding: “I’m just bitter about everything anyway, so you know, how much more bitter can I get?”
In a video released shortly after Carlson’s exit from Fox News, O’Reilly shared his thoughts about the circumstances surrounding that decision.
The pair went on to offer an assessment of their former employer and the cable news industry in general — and their forecast was not particularly positive. Both agreed that social media and nontraditional online outlets are poised to drive cable news into obsolescence, much like cable previously did to network news.
“When [Walter] Cronkite was there and [Dan] Rather and [Tom] Brokaw and [Peter] Jennings, there was juice,” O’Reilly said of the once-dominant network news machine.
Although cable news appears to be losing its relevance, he predicted that Fox News will remain a leader in the space for one fundamental reason.
“Fox wins not because of this ideological … although they have an advantage because traditional Americans have nowhere else to go except Newsmax, but Fox has better talent,” O’Reilly asserted.
The wide-ranging interview touched on many other topics, including the current state of America.
O’Reilly described it as the “age of disorder,” placing the blame on “the progressive movement” in general and President Joe Biden specifically.
If you only watch 3 minutes…https://t.co/W76ABPX5ba
— CitizenLenz (@CitizenLenz) September 28, 2023
Using the immigration crisis to illustrate his point, O’Reilly said: “This open border policy — which is insane, literally insane — this has led to massive death with the Fentynal problem, destruction of cities like El Paso [Texas] — whole cities evaporated — chaos in New York, where you’ve got buses of migrants being attacked by citizens who don’t want them moving into the neighborhood. There isn’t anything good about this, and immigration law says this should not be happening, but Biden won’t enforce the law because the progressives don’t.”
