NBC host Megyn Kelly said on Monday that former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's suggestion that no one complained about his behavior is false because she complained while working at Fox News.
Kelly's comment followed a New York Times report revealing O'Reilly paid a $32 million settlement to a long time network analyst. O'Reilly has been accused by numerous women for sexual harassment and made numerous settlements. The $32 million settlement is the sixth settlement and the largest. The woman's complaints against O'Reilly include allegations of repeated harassment, a nonconsensual sexual relationship and the sending of gay pornography and other sexually explicit material according to the Times.
O'Reilly denies all allegations against him and has said no one has complained about him in 20 years.
Kelly said O'Reilly's suggestion that no one previously complained, is false.
"O'Reilly calls the reports a malicious smear, saying no woman in 20 years complained to human resources or legal about him. Maybe that is true," Kelly said. "Fox News was not exactly a friendly environment for harassment victims who wanted to report, in my experience. However, O'Reilly's suggestion that no one complained about his behavior is false, I know because I complained."
'O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false. I know because I complained." @megynkelly on Bill O’Reilly pic.twitter.com/BO8ifQcJbu
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 23, 2017
Kelly recalled an email she wrote to co-presidents of Fox News, complaining about O'Reilly's behavior.
I did something that day I've never done before. I wrote an e-mail to the co-presidents of Fox News, Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy. An e-mail I have never made public but am sharing now because I think it speaks volumes about powerful men and the roadblocks one can face in taking them on. I wrote, in part, perhaps he didn't realize the kind of message his criticism sends to young women across this country, about how men continue to view the issue of speaking out about sexual harassment. Perhaps he didn't realize of his exact attitude of shaming women into shutting the hell up about harassment on grounds it will disgrace the company is in part how Fox News got into the decade long Ailes mess, to begin with. Perhaps it's his own history of harassment of women, which has, as you both know, resulted in payouts to more than one woman, including recently, that blinded him to the folly of saying 'I'm so sorry for the women of this company, who never should have had to go through that.' Bill Shine called me in response to my e-mail, promising to deal with O'Reilly. By 8:00 p.m., O'Reilly had apparently been dealt with. And by that, I mean, he was permitted, with management's advance notice and blessing to go on the air and attack the company's harassment victims yet again.
Kelly said it gives her no pleasure in reporting about her former employer in this way and that the abuse of women needs to stop.
"It gives me no pleasure to report such news about my former employer, which has made some reforms since all of this went down," Kelly said. "But this must stop. The abuse of women, the shaming of them, the silencing of them after the fact, it has to stop."