As we mentioned yesterday, Bill O’Reilly had the GALL to use Eric Bolling’s deceased son as a defense against his sexual harassment allegations.
“I urge you to think about what you put in your newspaper. Eric Bolling’s son is dead. He’s dead, because of allegations made, in my opinion — and I know this to be true — against Mr. Bolling,” O’Reilly said.
Eric Bolling was understandably upset.
Eric Bolling said in a response to the New York Times: ‘I believe it is beyond inappropriate for anyone to bring in the tragic death of my son Eric Chase Bolling.
‘Just as Bill O’Reilly had wanted to shield his children from the allegations against him, I hope he will honor my request and avoid any future mentions of my son.’
Eric Bolling responds to O’Reilly statement to NYT that Bolling’s son died because of allegations against his father https://t.co/dfzQGkVeHD pic.twitter.com/664jOp21MB
— Emily Steel (@emilysteel) October 23, 2017
The full statement reads:
Bill realized he messed up with that one… and has issued an apology in the form of these Tweets:
Apologies to Eric Bolling and prayers for him and his family. The message I tried to send was that allegations harm kids. Nothing more.
— Bill O’Reilly (@BillOReilly) October 23, 2017
Eric Bolling is a stand up guy who deserves the respect I have for him.
— Bill O’Reilly (@BillOReilly) October 23, 2017
I get what he was getting at… lives have been ruined, and a lot of damage has been done by accusations… HOWEVER I do think he may have crossed the line in using this boy’s death as his defense.
As you’ll remember, it wasn’t long ago Eric Bolling dealt with sexual harassment allegations of his own.
The shocking news was first reported in a tweet by journalist Yashar Ali, who also broke the story last month about alleged lewd texts sent by Eric to female staff members at Fox News.
Eric has insisted that the allegations are false and has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Ali.
He also claimed, in the statement to the New York Times, that he was not fired by Fox News, a notion that has been widely reported across media outlets.
‘I parted ways with Fox News in an amicable way and any reference to a firing is flatly wrong,’ he wrote. He also alluded to ‘new collaborations’.
Fox News released a statement at the time of Eric Chase’s death saying: ‘We are very saddened to hear of the passing of Eric Bolling’s son.
‘Eric Chase was a wonderful young man and our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Bolling family.’
The former University of Colorado, Boulder student’s cause of death has not been confirmed. Bolling has said that the coroner told him it was an ‘accident’.
The tragic death took place one day after it was learned that his father agreed to leave Fox News following an investigation into claims of sexual harassment.
Three of his father’s colleagues claimed that he sent them unsolicited photos of male genitalia via text message.
The rising Fox News host was suspended during the investigation and left the network where he has anchored several different shows for the past 10 years.