Bill O’Reilly said on Tuesday that Fox News is unlikely to do away with host Sean Hannity, adding that the conservative network can’t “handle another shake-up” after his own ouster.
“It’s the same thing, the far left going after him, trying to get him off the air,” O’Reilly told The Associated Press in an interview. “I think Hannity will survive because I don’t know if Fox can handle another shake-up like that.”
O’Reilly was fired from Fox News last month after a New York Times report revealed that the network had paid about $13 million in legal settlements to five women who had accused the former “O’Reilly Factor” host of sexual harassment.
{mosads}Before being removed from Fox, O’Reilly was among Fox News’s highest-profile personalities, and his show was the top-rated cable news program.
The conservative television host earlier this month cast his ouster as “a hit” by the “far left.” And on Tuesday, he said that Hannity, also one of Fox News’s major personalities, is being subjected to the same treatment.
Hannity has seen several advertisers pull out of his show in recent days after he propagated a conspiracy theory on air regarding the 2016 killing of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
Similarly, O’Reilly saw a deluge of advertisers leave his show before he was forced out at Fox. In the wake of O’Reilly’s firing, other networks such as MSNBC and CNN have seen ratings boosts.