Yes, I have met Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes and Donald Trump. It was part of my life as a television newswoman in New York City in the '70's and '80's. The three men appear to have changed little since those days except for their increased amounts of power in business and enormous amounts of money earned. Today they are reunited in that special club of men who have been accused of sexually harassing women in their workplaces.
The media business has been a place of rampant sexual harassment for an embarrassing amount of time. And it's not the men who have been embarrassed, but the women left to deal with the consequences of their bad behavior. A woman’s choice has been to either keep what went on to herself, or speak up and risk losing her job and reputation. I should know. I was a victim of sexual harassment while in television news.
Victimized. There is no other way to describe how women feel when they are confronted at work with unwanted sexual propositions or innuendo, lewd behavior, or the subtlety of inappropriate words and actions by men.
The business of media is not alone in quietly fostering questionable environments for women. Other sectors of business, large and small, too often unofficially allow employees to sexually harass and victimize women.
The old boys club mentality did not go out of existence with the "Madmen" era of the 50’s and 60’s. It carried over to the three high profile men, Bill, Roger and Donald, who came of age during that time and are now accused of allegedly sexually harassing women. The first to go down as a result of his apparent behavior was the former head of Fox News and long time Republican consultant, Roger Ailes. Ailes is 76 years old. Next to be outed for his outrageous behavior boasting about assaulting women on an Access Hollywood tape is Donald Trump. Months later he was elected President of the United States. Trump is 70 years old. Now it's Bill O'Reilly's turn to have his behavior toward women exposed for what it allegedly is. Disgusting. O'Reilly is 67 years old.
All three men are friends. Trump hired Ailes as a campaign advisor after Ailes was fired by Fox. The president publicly came to O'Reilly's defense in an Oval Office interview with the New York Times describing O'Reilly as “a good person” adding, “I don’t think Bill did anything wrong,”
That's how the old boys club operates. Defend. Distract. Hire.
Millions of dollars have been paid to women who settled their cases with Fox News. $13 million was paid to women who accused O'Reilly of harassment. $20 million was paid to Gretchen Carlson formerly of Fox News.
Roger Ailes, the man who harassed Carlson and was her former boss, received $40 million as part of his “exit” package when he was fired by Fox News. And yes, millions more will be paid to Bill O'Reilly as part of his farewell financial reward.
As for the third amigo, we'll probably never know how many claims President Donald Trump has quietly settled. It's absolutely worth quoting part of Donald Trump's 2005 recorded conversation with Access Hollywood's Billy Bush describing his actions with women:
“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
“Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Money and power can buy a great deal. But not everything.
Thousands of women in every workplace where harassment is allowed to thrive receive no payment for grievances reported or kept private. It's a national outrage and tragedy. To women today I say ... Speak out. Speak up. Loudly.