Time will tell how Bill O’Reilly’s exit from Fox News Channel will affect the channel’s ratings, but Fox appears to have lost a viewer in James Woods.
Actor and vocal conservative Woods tore into Fox on Thursday, saying that the channel is “becoming the sister network” to CNN.
Woods also asserted that O’Reilly’s exit was the result of “age discrimination,” rather than the scandalous accusations that have plagued O’Reilly. Or the massive advertiser exodus that occurred after those accusations heated up earlier this month.
“So now that @FoxNews is becoming the sister network to @CNN, where will one go for news without the stench of #liberal taint?” Woods tweeted on Thursday.
The actor followed up with the tweet, “The simple truth is that the @oreillyfactor purge was simple out and out age discrimination.”
Woods also tweeted a link to a story about O’Reilly’s exit and asked, “Is it possible big corporations use ‘sexual harassment’ charges as a way to avoid lucrative contract obligations?”
Fox News announced the departure of the “O’Reilly Factor” host on Wednesday morning, following a bombshell New York Times report on April 1 that O’Reilly and Fox News made payouts totaling about $13 million to five women to settle claims of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.
In the wake of the Times, report, dozens of advertisers pulled their support from “The O’Reilly Factor.”
In a subsequent statement, O’Reilly called the allegations against him “completely unfounded,” and said that his departure from Fox News was “tremendously disheartening.”
“Over the past 20 years at Fox News, I have been extremely proud to launch and lead one of the most successful news programs in history, which has consistently informed and entertained millions of Americans and significantly contributed to building Fox into the dominant news network in television,” O’Reilly said in his statement. “It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. I will always look back on my time at Fox with great pride in the unprecedented success we achieved and with my deepest gratitude to all my dedicated viewers. I wish only the best for Fox News Channel.”
Read Woods’ shocking theory below.
So now that @FoxNews is becoming the sister network to @CNN, where will one go for news without the stench of #liberal taint?
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 20, 2017
The simple truth is that the @oreillyfactor purge was simple out and out age discrimination.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 20, 2017