Bill O’Reilly Defends Matt Lauer Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Bill O’Reilly is defending fellow disgraced newscaster Matt Lauer after Lauer was fired this week following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct.

O’Reilly refused to speculate on Lauer’s situation on his podcast, No Spin Zone, saying people shouldn’t rush to judgment against Lauer.

“Lauer has not really said anything and it would be wrong of me to speculate,” O’Reilly said on his podcast Wednesday, as reported by WSLS. “Accusations are not facts. Accusers are not automatically victims.”

O’Reilly said he was not bothered by Lauer’s line of questioning toward him on Today last September when O’Reilly was ousted from Fox News.

“I went on Today Show knowing that Matt Lauer was going to ask me questions because that is what his NBC bosses wanted him to do,” O’Reilly said on Wednesday. “Did I mind those questions? I didn’t mind those questions. I got my voice heard loud and clear.”

Many see Lauer’s questioning from last September hypocritical, as Lauer asked questions like “Have you done some soul searching?”

“Have you done some self-reflection and have you looked at the way you treated women that you think now that you think about differently now than you did at the time?” Lauer asked O’Reilly at the time.

“My conscience is clear,” the embattled Fox News host declared at the time.

Lauer was fired from NBC earlier this week after a colleague filed a “detailed complaint” with the network’s HR department detailing “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace” against Lauer. Hours later, two more women filed complaints against Lauer alleging sexual misconduct.

That same day, Variety published a report detailing multiple women’s allegations against Lauer, ranging from allegations of sexting or buying adult toys to graphic sexual assault.

NBC News chairman Andy Lack called Lauer’s behavior “appalling” in a company-wide memo Friday morning and promised to undertake a “thorough and timely review of what happened.”

A Friday report from Page Six detailed current and former Today staffers saying Lauer’s behavior was tolerated by not only upper management, but his direct co-workers as well.

“Everybody at NBC knew about Matt Lauer’s sexually inappropriate behavior — and knew not to talk about it,” a current Today show staffer told the publication.

“Women did complain about his behavior, and there were a lot of closed-door meetings before it was all brushed under the carpet,” the source added.

One staffer told the Post that Lauer’s “sexual conquests were general office fodder. There was constant innuendo in the office about which woman had just had sex with Matt and which one would be next.”