NBC's Megyn Kelly addressed her claims regarding Bill O'Reilly's behavior while she worked at Fox News, and why she decided to voice them, during a Wednesday night appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers."
"You used your show on Monday to address, specifically, Bill O’Reilly, who had basically made the point that no women in all his years had ever gone to anyone in charge at Fox News and said his behavior was bad," Meyers began.
O'Reillly's claim, and Kelly's decision to address it, followed a New York Times report that O'Reilly paid a $32 million settlement to a long time network analyst.
In response to O'Reilly's claim, Kelly said on "Today" that she had spoken out to the co-presidents of the network. She had attempted to shine a light on her colleague's behavior, if not in the specific way O'Reilly indicated.
"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."
Meyers asked if Kelly knew right away that she was going to correct the record after O'Reilly said in the 20 years he worked at Fox News, "not one complaint was filed against him with the Human Resources Department or Legal Department."
Kelly said it was "the combo, of him saying that, and the news that he had paid $32 million to settle a [harassment] claim."
"That sounds like a lot," Meyers said.
"That’s not nuisance value...Fox says it didn’t know. The question remains, why didn’t they? Why wouldn’t you know, why wouldn’t you ask, before you bring this man back in the workplace and unleash him on the workforce?" Kelly asked.
Kelly talked about how there was no avenue for accusers to make their complaints known at Fox News, and cast some blame on Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes being a sexual harasser.
"I take no pleasure in discussing Fox News in that way because I had a lot of good years there, and they’re not all bad – they’ve got some great people," Kelly said. "He is not one of them."