Where does a massive media figure go to promote their new book after they’ve lost their platform on the biggest news channel in the country?
That’s the question that sprung to mind when Bill O’Reilly’s latest, “The United States of Trump,” dropped Tuesday, but even after he retweeted a single appearance on BlazeTV, answers were tremendously hard to come by.
Representatives for CNN, NBC and Sinclair did not return request for comment on whether O’Reilly, who was ousted from Fox News in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, would be welcome on their airwaves, let alone if he actually had plans or made requests to appear.
Representatives for his publisher, Henry Holt & Co., also did not respond to numerous requests for a list of his scheduled promotional appearances. Representatives for O’Reilly himself did not respond to similar requests.
A spokesperson for Fox News, however, did respond, confirming O’Reilly will not appear on the network to discuss his new book.
The book came out Tuesday and O’Reilly largely promoted it on his own accounts and sites, streaming live from sales platform TalkShop Live. Wednesday, he did appear on BlazeTV. A representative for TheBlaze did not immediately return a request for comment on how the decision was made to book O’Reilly, who was ousted from Fox News in 2017 following a bombshell New York Times report that he and Fox News made payouts totaling about $13 million to five women to settle claims of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.
At the time, he disputed the reporting, saying, “It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today.”
As of Wednesday, he continued to promote his own streaming service, tweeting about the latest news cycle to envelope the Trump administration: “Had to turn the TV off, so much garbage about this Ukraine thing. The genesis of it lies in Trump’s belief that the Obama administration was corrupt on foreign policy. I lay out Trump’s belief in ‘The United States of Trump.’ Best TV coverage tonight on BillOReilly.com.”