Fox News planning to sever ties with Bill O’Reilly: report

Fox News is planning to sever ties with Bill O’Reilly, the popular prime-time host who is embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that sources close to the situation said a final decision regarding the host of “The O’Reilly Factor” could come in the next several days.

{mosads}The Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News.

The report follows earlier reporting by CNN in which sources said O’Reilly and the network have begun discussing his exit from Fox News.

O’Reilly is currently on what he told his viewers was a previously planned vacation, and was scheduled to return to his show on April 24.

The news of O’Reilly’s potential departure from the network follows an initial article in The New York Times earlier this month that said he paid $13 million to five women who accused him of sexual harassment and improper conduct. 

As many as 90 advertisers pulled their commercials from “The O’Reilly Factor” in the wake of the scandal.

A lawyer for O’Reilly said Monday that the host had been subject to a “smear campaign” by far-left groups. 

“Bill O’Reilly has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination that is unprecedented in post-McCarthyist America,” Marc E. Kasowitz said in a statement Tuesday, according to CNN.