‘Fox News’ Host Bill O’Reilly Is ‘Head Of A Cult,’ Former Fox Anchor Says

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, the outspoken and very successful cable news personality, is the target of personal attacks on a regular basis, which is nothing new. What is new, however, is that a former Fox host is claiming O’Reilly is the leader of “a cult.”

It’s no secret that the liberal media despises Fox News and its success. The fact that President Obama brings up the network every time a controversy ensues is a clear indication that the left has no fond feelings for the “most trusted name in news.”

Now, former employee Eric Burns, who hosted Fox News Watch for a decade and was fired by the cable news network in 2008, is dubbing O’Reilly the leader of a cult. In a scathing interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter on Sunday, Burns had choice words for his former colleague.

“I think the way to understand this is to make a distinction between culture and cult. I’m saying that the people who watch Fox News are cult-ish. Because for many years, conservatives have been extremely upset in this country because the only newscast that they had to watch were liberal, you people at CNN and how liberal you are. And NBC and ABC and CBS.

“They never had their own television station. When they got one, their appreciation, their audience loyalty — and I know what the audience loyalty was like when I was there — their audience loyalty soared. And so O’Reilly, as the head of the cult, is not held to the same standards as Brian Williams.”

Longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was suspended last month, when it was revealed that he lied about an incident while he was reporting on the war in Afghanistan. This has prompted other NBC News personalities, such as Rachel Maddow — who hosts The Rachel Maddow Show during primetime — to come out swinging against alleged “lies” told by O’Reilly during his time as a correspondent for other networks.

Bill O’Reilly has taken a segment from his own show, The O’Reilly Factor, to defend himself, but the attacks keep coming from all quarters. Despite this, Fox News viewers constantly give the cable news network the top ratings in primetime, and some believe all the fire aimed at O’Reilly is just jealousy.

A recent poll from Quinnipiac University support Fox News slogan that says they are the “most trusted name in news, with 29 percent of participants voting the conservative news network as the most trusted news coverage in America. CNN came in second place with 22 percent, while NBC barely gets 10 percent of the vote and its partner MSNBC grabs 7 percent.

Ratings for March 5 indicate The O’Reilly Factor had over three million viewers in its time slot, while the competition at MSNBC only managed 511,000. As far as Rachel Maddow is concerned, Fox News’ rising star Megyn Kelly, was watched by almost 2.5 million people, while Maddow’s show — which airs at the same time — took 651,000.

Do you think the attacks against Fox News and Bill O’Reilly are valid or just jealousy?

[Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Entertainment ]