Olbermann's feud with Bill O'Reilly dates back to 2004 when the Countdown topper asked viewers to fund the purchase of tapes that allegedly contained evidence that would have incriminated the Fox News Channel host in a sexual harassment suit filed by producer Andrea Mackris. Olbermann has dubbed The O'Reilly Factor host the Worst Person in the World, and most famously donned a mask of O'Reilly during a panel at the Television Critics' Association 2006 press tour.
FilmMagic/Getty ImagesBill O’Reilly went with laughter being the best medicine in regards to the revealing comments that Fox News President Roger Ailes made about the news commentator.
While on a publicity tour for his latest book, Killing Lincoln, O’Reilly made a stop at the Don Imus show on Tuesday. Imus asked The O’Reilly Factor host about the comments that Ailes has made in a recent Newsweek interview, saying that O’Reilly “hates” Sean Hannity and is “frightened” by Glenn Beck.
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“Roger loves to be a provocateur,” O’Reilly said. “Why would I have Glenn Beck on my program every Friday and go out on the road with him if I was frightened by him?”
When Imus asked about his views on Hannity, O’Reilly responded, “Oh, that’s absolutely true…but I hate everybody.”
STORY: Roger Ailes Doesn’t Care if People Say Glenn Beck Quit or Got Fired
In the candid interview with Newsweek, Ailes, whose contract with Fox News ends in 2013, spoke about a “course correction” for the news network to appeal to a wider audience. He told the publication that former host Glenn Beck’s controversial comments about Obama being a racist “became a bit of a branding issue for us.” Beck left Fox News in July.
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Many of the current crop of Republican presidential candidates have been to visit Ailes, including frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Ailes offers his assessment of the candidates. Of Perry, he says he has a look that “if he tells people he’s gonna kick their ass, he might actually do it, which is useful for a president.”
