The Character of Bill O'Reilly vs. The Real Bill O'Reilly

For all that his onscreen character was abrasive and arrogant, it seems the real man turned out to be quite a bit worse

Bill O'Reilly
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Fox News fired its flagship anchor Bill O'Reilly after his show hemorrhaged sponsors in the wake of a damaging report enumerating the multiple sexual harassment claims the network tried to keep secret to protect its asset. Over $13 million was paid out in settlements to women O'Reilly allegedly targeted, and while some of the claims were old, two were settled after Roger Ailes was ousted and the company pledged not to tolerate behavior that disrespected women.

The media giant's fall came about in the same week as Infowars creator Alex Jones' custody case. Jones' lawyers have argued, using a legal argument that worked for Hulk Hogan but risks annihilating Jones' brand, that Jones' popular ravings about interdimensional invaders and Hillary Clinton's true identity (demon) should not be understood as true expressions of his beliefs but rather as "performance art." There is a difference between the public persona and the private person, the argument goes, and Jones is (his attorney says) playing a character. While this may be a necessary argument in court, where Jones' erratic behavior onscreen could cost him custody of his children, it's fatal to Jones' brand. So fatal that he may have defied a gag order to reassure his fans that he remains very much the "real thing."

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Lili Loofbourow

Lili Loofbourow is the culture critic at TheWeek.com. She's also a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Review of Books and an editor for Beyond Criticism, a Bloomsbury Academic series dedicated to formally experimental criticism. Her writing has appeared in a variety of venues including The Guardian, Salon, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Slate.