“The View” cohost Sunny Hostin said on Tuesday that, during her brief time at Fox News, she was put off by how “aggressive” Megyn Kelly was on Bill O’Reilly’s show.
Hostin, who was a guest panelist while Roger Ailes was still running Fox News, said on the “Behind the Table” podcast that the network “felt very cult-like” at the time.
She explained, “There was almost a mandate that would come from the top about what topics would be discussed on every show, and there were whiteboards on every floor. The shows were separated often by floors. You could see it as you walked in to where you were sitting. No. 1 was like, ‘Obama sucks,’ No. 2 was like, ‘Obama was not born in this country.’”
Hostin added that, under Ailes, “The hair and makeup and clothing, I thought was a little inappropriate … the shorter the skirt, the more airtime you got.”
Kelly and Hostin would take opposing sides on “The O’Reilly Factor” during a segment called “Is It Legal?” with Hostin claiming Kelly became “a completely different person” on air.
“She was fine and it was great and we would talk, and that red light came on and she became a completely different person, a very telegenic person, very aggressive, assertive,” Hostin said.
She added, “[Kelly] took up all the air time, she took up all the air in the room, and I realized what my task was because I had the minority voice, of course, for Fox News viewers, that I had a mission, I wanted them to see the other side.”
It’s not the first time she’s sparred with Kelly, who left the network in 2017. In 2023, Hostin said, “I think I bested [Kelly] most of the time.”
Kelly snapped back on social media at the time, referring to her own career path at the network: “Yes, Sunny, that is what led Fox to give you your own show and then elevate you to the primetime where you built the No. 1 show in cable and also became part of the network’s presidential debate team. Oh wait.”
A Fox News insider told TheWrap, “Sunny never worked here, no one has any clue of what she’s referring to given she was only a guest on a show that hasn’t been on in nearly a decade, but attacking Fox News is the easiest way for her to get the attention she craves.”
Ailes, who died in 2017, was sued for sexual harassment by Gretchen Carlson in 2016. “The O’Reilly Factor” was also canceled in 2017, the same year O’Reilly settled a sex harassment claim for $32 million with former legal analyst Lis Wiehl.
