Keith Olbermann had two words of advice for Bill O’Reilly following his ousting from Fox News on Wednesday: “Fess up.”
Olbermann, the host of the GQ political webseries “The Resistance,” sat down for an interview with Yahoo News’ Katie Couric in which the two discussed O’Reilly’s firing from the cable news channel.
“Fess up,” Olbermann said when asked what he’d advise Bill O’Reilly to do next. “Say what you did, apologize for it, if you don’t sincerely mean it, fake the apology, and then move on and keep your hands on top of the desk at all times and just proceed.”
“I think the opportunity for him to continue is endless, particularly if he did something extraordinarily positive like saying ‘yes I did some of these things,’” he continued. “America is really forgiving about almost anything, particularly if you say you’re sorry and you either mean it or you look like you mean it.”
O’Reilly was fired from Fox News on Wednesday when the company announced that he would not be returning to “The O’Reilly Factor” following a pre-scheduled company vacation.
O’Reilly’s position at the network had become increasingly untenable following a bombshell New York Times report on April 1 that O’Reilly and Fox News have made payouts totaling about $13 million to five women to settle claims of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior. Additional female accusers have stepped forward in the weeks since the Times story.
“I tweeted ‘mission accomplished,’” Olbermann told Couric. “The one that is more applicable is ‘revenge is a dish that people prefer to be served cold… To me this seemed inevitable, and in many respects it’s so past the time that it should have happened.”