Bill O'Reilly Absolutely Slams Fox News

Former Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly had harsh words for his former employer. During an interview on "Dan Abrams Live" on December 14, the never-shy O'Reilly had plenty to say about Fox News and the texts his former colleagues sent to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 6 during the insurrection at the Capitol. The House Select Committee investigating January 6 made headlines when Republican Rep. Liz Cheney read texts aloud sent to Mark Meadows' phone. At the committee hearing, Cheney read texts from Fox News stars including Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, and Laura Ingraham. The Fox News personalities pleaded with Meadows to make President Trump stop the rioters, according to The New York Times.

The rant comes amid O'Reilly's tour with former President Donald Trump. But the venture between the former Fox News star and 45th president supposedly isn't a big success so far, per The Daily Beast. The outlet reported many empty seats at the December 11 kickoff event. That must have come as a blow to O'Reilly, who was one of the most popular Fox News pundits before he was forced out in 2017 after past sexual harassment allegations became public, according to The New York Times.

Despite the rumors of failure, O'Reilly is still as feisty as ever, evidenced by his latest jab at Fox News. 

In an interview on "Dan Abrams Live" on December 14, Bill O'Reilly told Abrams he was troubled by some of the Fox News efforts to minimize the January 6 insurrection, which he called "one of the most disgraceful displays in U.S. history." O'Reilly said, "Fox News is a different place than when I was there. . . there was discipline from management that diminishing the Capitol riot could never have happened." O'Reilly told Abrams that all cable news networks give viewers what they want to hear. O'Reilly said, "...It's easy to play to the choir, and that's what they're all doing now. That's easy... It's hard to debate and especially when you bring bright people in."

The pundit also bragged about the "The O'Reilly Factor," saying, "If I went back to any network and reimposed 'The O'Reilly Factor,' where we brought on people to debate from all sides, and we presented evidence as best we could backed up by facts – that show would go through the roof." Speaking of "facts," some might wonder why O'Reilly hasn't pushed Trump on the 2020 election. He told Abrams, "He thinks the election was unfair. Ok. History says it wasn't. Ok. Let's move forward, that's my job." Trump himself has bashed Fox News, but for a different reason. "Watching @FoxNews is almost as bad as watching Fake News @CNN," he tweeted (via The Wrap) in December 2020, seemingly upset the network had acknowledged Joe Biden's election win.

 Well, one thing is for certain — both O'Reilly and Trump are always keen to share their unfiltered thoughts.