Coming up next… #MeToo hits home. Here’s a look at the news anchors and hosts who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years.
Bill O’Reilly was ousted from his long-running, top-rated primetime show on Fox News in April 2017 after being accused of sexual harassment. The ouster came 13 years after an accuser, Andrea Mackris, settled her own sexual harassment claim against him. O’Reilly has denied accusations against him and gone on to host a streaming show, “No Spin News.”
Charlie Rose was fired from his job hosting “CBS This Morning” and both PBS and Bloomberg dropped his popular interview program, “Charlie Rose,” after he was accused of sexual misconduct in November 2017. He offered an apology for insensitive actions at the time.
Once one of the biggest stars in political and cable news media, Mark Halperin’s career imploded in October 2017 after CNN published a piece detailing sexual misconduct accusations against Halperin by five women. One accuser described how Halperin had forcibly kissed her while shoving himself up against her body. He has since found employment with bipartisan policy organization No Labels.
Eric Bolling left Fox News in September 2017 after 10 years with the cable network. The company launched an investigation after a report said he had sent lewd text messages to female colleagues. Bolling’s lawyer said at the time the host did not recall sending lewd messages or photos. He now works at Newsmax.
NBC News fired longtime “Today” host Matt Lauer in November 2017 after he was accused of “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” NBC News staffer Brooke Nevils accused him of rape and details of the accusations continued to come out as recently as 2019, when NBC News insisted Lauer was fired within 24 hours of management hearing about them. Lauer has called his conduct with Nevils “completely consensual” and has not found full-time employment since his firing.
In July 2018, Kimberly Guilfoyle left Fox News — where she co-hosted “The Five” — after the news network opened an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct — including that she shared inappropriate photographs of male genitalia with coworkers. Her lawyer denied the accusations; she went on to work for former president Donald Trump’s unsuccessful reelection campaign alongside her boyfriend, Donald Trump Jr.
Ed Henry was fired from Fox News in July 2020 after being accused of rape by a former Fox Business Network staffer. He sued his former employer earlier that year, claiming he was defamed and Fox News “turned against” him after the allegation. He took a leave from Fox News in 2016 after a report surfaced he’d had an affair with a Las Vegas hostess.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo was accused by his former boss, Shelley Ross, of grabbing her buttocks at a work party in view of her husband. He acknowledged what he’d done that night in an email apologizing to them both, as well as in a statement to the New York Times when Shelley wrote her op-ed. Thus far, his current employer, CNN, has offered no comment on the accusations or what might come of them.
