How Late-Night Shows Treat Harvey Weinstein Differently Than Bill O’Reilly

Only John Oliver fully addressed the Weinstein scandal early on.

October 10, 2017 8:50 am
Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly is in talks to get back on cable TV. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
AP

On Thursday, The New York Times released an investigative piece detailing three decades worth of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, a film producer and film studio executive. Since then, he has been fired from the company he co-founded, reports Axios

The accusations ring familiar to those against former show host Bill O’Reilly, which resulted in him being fired from Fox News. However, the reaction from late night show hosts has been very different, reports Axios. O’Reilly was used for material for late-night skits and monologues, but only John Oliver fully addressed the Weinstein scandal.

Does this matter? Axios writes that O’Reilly was a conservative with whom most show hosts disagreed with on a number of issues. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein was a fellow Hollywood liberal who donated to liberal causes. But Axios points out that Weinstein is not as well known, and O’Reilly is more of a household name than Weinstein.

Saturday Night Live produced a skit after Bill O’Reilly left Fox News, mimicking the O’Reilly Factor and mocking his sexual advances toward women, reports Axios. Meanwhile, SNL wrote Weinstein-related jokes for their Saturday performance, but according to The New York Times, they did not end up using them. A source told The Times that Lorne Michaels was afraid it was a NYC media story and would not resonate with a national audience.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Late Night with Seth Meyers all criticized O’Reilly after the news broke, making jokes about the Pope, or criticizing the closeness of O’Reilly, Fox News and Donald Trump, but none of them said anything on air about Weinstein until Monday night.

Kimmel did tweet a response from Donald Trump Jr. asking for comment on the Weinstein story: “You mean that big story from the failing, liberal, one-sided @nytimes? I think it is disgusting.”

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert led his show with jokes about O’Reilly and his firing after the news broke. Colbert did not tape on Friday, but did tweet, “So far, Harvey Weinstein has checked off ‘Sex’ and ‘Lies,’ but I really don’t want to see the Videotape.”

Daily Show with Trevor Noah did a series of jokes after the news broke that O’Reilly would not be returning to Fox News. He did mention the Weinstein scandal during a segment mocking Cam Newton for his sexist remarks toward a female reporter, according to Axios. 

John Oliver is the only late night comedian to specifically mention and condemn Weinstein’s actions. He also discussed O’Reilly when it happened. You can watch the segment above.

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.