Fox protected Bill O'Reilly from harassment claims: Megyn Kelly

NEW YORK - One of America's top TV personalities Monday accused Fox News of protecting disgraced former presenter Bill O'Reilly in the face of sexual harassment allegations.

Speaking on her morning NBC show, ex-Fox anchor Megyn Kelly said she sent an email to several Fox News executives in November 2016, expressing her outrage at O'Reilly's alleged behavior.

Her comments came after the New York Times reported Saturday that last January, O'Reilly, who has since been fired, settled a sexual harassment claim by Fox legal analyst Lis Wiehl for $32 million. Months later, he was offered a new contract -- but forced out again in mid-April after the Times revealed details of five other settlements.

Kelly -- who joined NBC earlier this year -- said she had mentioned settlements between the presenter and several woman in her email, claiming management was aware of them.

She also alleged that Bill Shine, Fox News co-president at the time, called her to say he would "take care of Bill O'Reilly."

Speaking on the Times' podcast "The Daily" a few days before Saturday's report was published, O'Reilly insisted he had "never had one complaint filed against me by a coworker... in 43 years."

Spokesman Mark Fabiani defended O'Reilly's conduct Saturday.

"In the more than 20 years Bill O'Reilly worked at Fox News, not one complaint was filed against him with the Human Resources Department or Legal Department by a coworker, even on the anonymous hotline," he said in statement published on O'Reilly's website.

Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox, told AFP it has taken action to "transform" Fox News, including "increasing the channels through which employees can report harassment or discrimination."

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kremlin says it wants apology from Fox News over Putin comments

MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Monday it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments one of the channel's presenters made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Putin as "a killer" in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O'Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed.

"We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

O'Reilly dismissed the Kremlin's call for an apology.

"I'm working on that apology but it may take a little time," he said on Fox News late on Monday. "You might want to check in with me around ... 2023."

Fox News is a top-rated U.S. cable news network owned by Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.

Trump's views on Putin are closely scrutinized in the United States, where U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of having sponsored computer hacking to help Trump win office, and critics say he is too complimentary about the Russian leader.

Trump, when commenting on the allegations against Putin in the same interview, questioned how "innocent" the United States itself was, saying it had made a lot of its own mistakes. That irritated some congressional Republicans who said there was no comparison between how Russian and U.S. politicians behaved.

Asked in an interview on Sunday to clarify those comments, Trump told Westwood One Sports Radio: "Well, I don't have to clarify it. The question was do you respect him -- he's a head of a major country."

Putin, in his 17th year of dominating the Russian political landscape, is accused by some Kremlin critics of ordering the killing of opponents. Putin and the Kremlin have repeatedly rejected those allegations as politically motivated and false.

Trump, who has said he wants to try to mend battered U.S.-Russia ties and hopes he can get along with Putin, was asked a question about some of those allegations by Fox Business before he won the White House.

In January last year, after a British judge ruled that Putin had "probably" authorized the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, Trump said he saw no evidence the Russian president was guilty.

source: news.abs-cbn.com