Megyn Kelly fired back at her Fox News colleague Bill O’Reilly on “CBS This Morning” Wednesday over his criticism that her book makes the network look bad.
“I believe that Roger Ailes made the company look bad,” Kelly said.
O’Reilly took shots at Kelly twice on Tuesday, when he also appeared on CBS morning show. “I’m not interested in making my network look bad at all,” he said when Norah O’Donnell asked about Kelly’s book containing details about Ailes sexually harassing her. Later in the day, O’Reilly made similar comments on his show.
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.
Kelly was on the CBS morning show on Wednesday to promote her new book, “Settle for More,” but the conversation quickly turned to a discussion about the former Fox News CEO.
“So, after I brought the matter to a supervisor — and was told, ‘This is a good man. He’s probably just smitten.’ There was a vouching for Roger’s character. And the suggestion was, ‘Just avoid him,’ which I hadn’t realized was an option, right. I mean, this is the chairman of the company — who was calling me up to meet with him in New York. I was in the D.C. bureau. So, I did that. I avoided him. And he left me alone after that,” Kelly said.
Gayle King ended the interview by jokingly asking soon-to-be free agent Kelly, “You plan to leave Fox when?”
Kelly replied, “Oh stop.”
Meanwhile, “The O’Reilly Factor” host has already tried to backpedal his comments.
“I’d like to make one comment in defense of [Kelly],” O’Reilly said during a radio interview with Don Imus on 77WABC Radio on Wednesday. “She is a very smart, talented woman… She has a perfect right to write a book and say anything she wants to say. And I don’t want that to get lost.”
Watch the video above.