Kirsten Powers Accuses Bill O’Reilly Of Sexism, But She Was Singing A Different Tune In 2014

After mounting sexual harassment allegations, Fox News canned Bill O’Reilly. Old news, I know. We’ll probably never know the truth. How much of this is exaggerated and how much is totally legit? (This may be an unpopular opinion, but I can totally see O’Reilly acting like a giant sexist jerk. Especially after seeing some clips of his off-camera meltdowns. He just doesn’t seem like a very likable person.)

I’m losing count of the women who’ve come out and made some sort of sexual harassment claim. Here’s another to add to the list: Kirsten Powers.

She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Wednesday that she’s been at the receiving end of O’Reilly’s “sexist” remarks.

.@KirstenPowers once complained about O’Reilly’s behavior and was told: “You know Bill, there’s nothing we can do” https://t.co/atRMmeibKJ

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) April 20, 2017

“I was thinking about an incident that had happened early on in my career there where I was on-air there with Margaret Hoover, who’s at CNN now, on a regular segment, we were on every Monday,” Powers said. “And he got Margaret’s name wrong, and Margaret said, ‘Hey, get my name right,’ and he said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, there’s a lot of blondes in this operation, I can’t keep you all straight. Megyn Kelly’s coming up,’ starts throwing all these blondes’ names.”

“And at the end of the segment, says, ‘Thank you for your blondeness,'” Powers added.

Powers told O’Reilly’s executive producer about his remark and proceeded to go right up the chain of command, but they all dismissed her concerns.

“And I was told basically, ‘Well, you know, Bill. There’s nothing we can do about it. He’s a throwback. He’s kind of an Archie Bunker.’ And I said, ‘Well if you mean he is a Neanderthal, then we’re on the same page, he can never do that again. I am a political analyst here.’ Went to Bill, came back, and said, ‘No, he’s not going to apologize,'” Powers said. “I was called into my boss’ office and was told, ‘There’s nothing we can do. We are sorry this happened to you.'”

OK fine. Totally believable story. I’m not questioning it, but I AM questioning why she fiercely defended O’Reilly against allegations of sexism back in 2014. She even wrote an article titled, “Bill O’Reilly is not sexist.” How on earth do you explain that?

Sexism is a serious problem and a serious accusation. It’s true there are many people who dismiss women as unserious and out of their depth not because they are, but because they are women. Bill O’Reilly isn’t one of them.

 

I know. As a Fox News contributor, I’ve worked with him for eight years, including weekly segments where we often disagree heatedly. O’Reilly does not discriminate when it comes to expressing tough judgments. Anyone with a passing familiarity with his work knows this, which is what makes Harf’s accusation so irresponsible.

 

Just ask Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, whom O’Reilly called “beneath contempt.” O’Reilly expressed dismay that “The Washington Post would employ a guy like that.” That’s just one of a multitude of examples of O’Reilly speaking more harshly about a man than about Psaki.

 

Democrats have become so trigger happy with the “war on women” charge that they find sexism lurking behind nearly every disagreement. It’s a toxic tactic to silence anyone who disagrees. Have we really gotten to the point that any criticism of the competence of the State Department spokeswoman by a man is sexist? Apparently.

Um. Whoa? All of those contradictions make me wonder.

Don’t get me wrong– I’m not defending O’Reilly. I’m thrilled to see him go. But I want Powers to explain her sudden change of heart. It just doesn’t make sense, and quite frankly, makes her look pretty phony.

h/t The Blaze