Megyn Kelly said that Fox News colleague Bill O’Reilly might have the No. 1 show on cable news, but she has the No. 1 “news show” on cable news.
“His is an opinion show and there is a difference because, let me tell you, as a news person sometimes its harder to put ratings on the board because you just report the news,” Kelly said. “If the news is boring, it’s boring.”
Kelly made the comments during an interview with Charlie Rose in New York on Wednesday night at the Union Square Barnes & Noble to promote her new book, “Settle for More,” in front of a packed crowd of fans and media.
They came up when Rose asked Kelly why she is different from her Fox News colleagues, which drew laughter from the crowd.
“Well, we’re all different. Each of us is unique in our own way. I would say, in the primetime lineup, I’m different because I’m not an opinion host. I’m a news host,” Kelly said before explaining that sometimes she beats O’Reilly in the key demo of adults age 25-54, which “is not easy to do as a news person.”
O’Reilly took his own shots at Kelly twice during an appearance on “CBS This Morning” Tuesday. “I’m not interested in making my network look bad at all,” he said when Norah O’Donnell asked about Kelly’s book, which contains details about sexually harassment by former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. Later in the day, O’Reilly made similar comments on his show, “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Kelly addressed O’Reilly’s comment at the Wednesday night event, saying, “I believe that Roger Ailes made the company look bad.”
Ailes stepped down in disgrace earlier this year after former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him and multiple women, including Kelly, came forward with similar claims.
For the month of October, “The O’Reilly Factor” finished first among all cable news programs in total viewers with “The Kelly File” coming in second.