Viral video catches Bill O'Reilly harassing JetBlue employee over delayed flight
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Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is going viral and, unsurprisingly, it’s not for a good reason. A video of O’Reilly exploded online Tuesday. In the video, the 72-year-old right-wing, disgraced host can be seen belittling a JetBlue employee at John F. Kennedy International Airport, all because his flight was delayed.
“What you’re gonna do … it’s three hours late,” O’Reilly is heard saying in the video. When the employee responds, O’Reilly can be heard interrupting the employee and pointing at him as he continues: “No, no, no. You’re going to find out.”
It only gets worse. O’Reilly then resorts to name-calling, including calling the employee “a (expletive) scumbag.” When the employee attempted to respond, O’Reilly served up a hypocrisy sandwich, saying, “Don’t talk to me like that.”
Of course, despite clearly threatening the employee, O’Reilly denied threatening him and then immediately took a shot at his livelihood. “You’re going to lose your job,” O’Reilly told the employee, before walking away.
The video of the incident, which occurred on Sunday, April 3, was exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail. According to the outlet, O’Reilly planned to be on his way to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean when his flight was delayed by over three hours.
A fellow passenger recorded the incident, noting that he was shocked by O’Reilly’s remarks and attitude. “I couldn’t believe how arrogant he was,” the passenger told Daily Mail.
O’Reilly took to Twitter to defend himself and accuse the airline employee of being the arrogant one during the incident.
“The character assassins on social media completely lying about my interaction with a JetBlue guy who misled passengers during a five-hour delay,” he posted on Twitter. “I expected this.”
Airline flight changes have been common since the start of the pandemic. Multiple airlines including JetBlue announced that they would be altering flight schedules due to staffing shortages that are contributing to delayed flights and cancellations.
“Despite hiring more than 3,000 new crewmembers already this year, like many businesses, we remain staffing constrained and these disruptions exacerbate an already challenging staffing situation,” JetBlue said in a statement earlier this year.
Realistically, O’Reilly should have planned for delays which are, of course, frustrating. But harassing an employee is never the right approach.
This isn’t the first time that O’Reilly has faced negative headlines. He was fired from Fox News following a sexual harassment scandal in 2017. He now hosts a podcast. An avid supporter of Donald Trump (who also faces numerous sexual assault accusations), O’Reilly called the accusations against himself “completely unfounded claims.”