Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

PEOPLE/ARTS Wednesday 20 september
A29

O’Reilly says his ouster was hit job and business decision

By DAVID BAUDER engineered by ...,” O’Reilly doch-owned company’s
AP Television Writer said. $15 billion bid to take over
NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Lauer interrupted him. “This Britain’s Sky Broadcasting,
O’Reilly said Tuesday that was a vast left wing con- which is still being reviewed
his firing from Fox News spiracy?” said Lauer, who by British authorities, who
Channel in April was a “po- was the interviewer two de- are looking at Fox’s harass-
litical hit job” and that his cades ago when then-first ment issues, among other
network’s parent company lady Hillary Clinton talked issues.
made a business decision about a “vast right wing “They made a business de-
to get rid of him. conspiracy” targeting her cision that they could pos-
The deposed king of ca- husband. sibly prosper more without
ble television news had a “It wasn’t vast,” O’Reilly me,” O’Reilly said.
contentious interview with said. “Don’t be sarcastic. A spokesman for 21st Cen-
Matt Lauer on NBC’s “To- Don’t be sarcastic.” tury Fox declined comment
day” show, where he said Following the Times report, Tuesday on O’Reilly’s inter-
his conscience was clear advertisers began fleeing view.
about how he dealt with from O’Reilly’s show, en- O’Reilly didn’t discuss in- In this Oct. 1, 2015, file photo, Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Chan-
women in the working couraged by liberal media dividual accusations, but nel program “The O’Reilly Factor,” poses for photos in New York.
world. watchdogs that had long urged viewers to read a Associated Press
O’Reilly was dismissed by had O’Reilly in their sights. story on the conservative
21st Century Fox following O’Reilly said that unsettled website Newsmax that said that had advocated an ten with Martin Dugard.
a review prompted by a re- his bosses at Fox. one of his accusers had O’Reilly advertiser boycott, The series, which includes
port in The New York Times Given his status at the net- been arrested by Detroit said “NBC should not have the million-sellers “Killing
that five women had been work, Lauer asked whether police in 2015 and charged hosted O’Reilly in the first Lincoln” and “Killing Ken-
paid a total of $13 million to it seemed safe to assume with making a false report place,” particularly since nedy,” has made O’Reilly
keep quiet about disturb- that company officials had about a boyfriend threat- he had earlier said he one of the country’s best-
ing encounters with the Fox been given some informa- ening her with a gun. would bring up the article selling nonfiction authors.
host. tion or evidence that made He was asked by Lauer about one of his accusers. But this is the first one where
At the time, the network it impossible for O’Reilly to whether he had suffered While Lauer did spend a he hasn’t had the platform
was nine months past re- stay.“That’s a false assump- any self-inflicted wounds. substantial amount of time of his Fox show to promote
moving its founding CEO, tion,” O’Reilly said. “There “Nobody’s a perfect per- questioning O’Reilly about it. As of early Tuesday af-
Roger Ailes, following ha- were a lot of other busi- son,” O’Reilly said. “But I the harassment reports, ternoon, “Killing England”
rassment charges. The ness things in play at that can go to sleep at night Keiter said “the questions ranked No. 4 on Amazon.
combative O’Reilly had time, and still today, that very well, knowing that I lacked sharpness and fol- com.About three-quarters
spent years as the most- 21st Century was involved never mistreated anyone low-through.” of Lauer’s interview ad-
watched figure in cable TV in, and that was a business on my watch in 42 years.” O’Reilly appeared on the dressed the circumstances
news. decision that they made.” Laura Keiter, spokeswom- morning show to promote around O’Reilly’s firing be-
“This was a hit job, a po- That was an apparent ref- an for Media Matters for a book, “Killing England,” fore he was asked about
litical and financial hit job erence to the Rupert Mur- America, one of the groups one of a series he has writ- the book.q
The person named most dangerous online might surprise you

By MARK KENNEDY Malik (No. 4), Celine Dion
AP Entertainment Writer (No. 5), Calvin Harris (No.
NEW YORK (AP) — One- 6), Justin Bieber (No. 7),
time pop-punk princess Sean “Diddy” Combs (No.
Avril Lavigne has beat- 8), Katy Perry (No. 9) and
en superstar Beyonce at Beyonce (No. 10) rounded
something, but she may out the top 10 list.
not be totally happy with It’s a dubious step up for
her victory — she’s been Lavigne, who was ranked
named the most danger- No. 2 in 2013. Lavigne,
ous celebrity on the inter- whose hits include “Sk8er
net. Boi,” ‘’Complicated” and
Cybersecurity firm McAfee “I’m With You,” has been
said Tuesday that Lavigne, out of the spotlight for sev-
whose last album came eral years as she battles
out in 2013, was the most Lyme disease.
likely celebrity to land us- McAfee had a few sug-
ers on websites that carry gestions for why Lavigne
viruses or malware. scored so high on the 11th
Searches for Lavigne have annual list: Interest after
a 14.5 percent chance of the artist said she’s working
landing on a web page on a new album, a feature
with the potential for on- story on her by E! Online
line threats, a number that and an internet conspira- In this Feb. 14, 2016 file photo, Avril Lavigne arrives at the 2016 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in
increases to 22 percent if cy that she has been re- Beverly Hills, Calif.
users type her name and placed by an impostor. Associated Press
search for free MP3s. Lavigne is the first female internet in 2016. In 2015, it on suspicious links. The company used its
Bruno Mars was second musician to take the No. was Dutch trance DJ van McAfee urges internet us- own site ratings to compile
in his debut on the list, fol- 1 spot and replaced Amy Buuren. ers to consider risks asso- the celebrity list and used
lowed closely behind by Schumer, named the most The survey is meant to high- ciated with searching for searches on Google, Bing
Carly Rae Jepsen. Zayn dangerous celebrity on the light the danger of clicking downloadable content. and Yahoo.q