Star Host Bill O'Reilly Cut From Fox News

Longtime Fox News host Bill O’Reilly will not return to the network in the wake of renewed scrutiny over allegations of sexual harassment, 21st Century Fox said Wednesday. 

“After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel,” the Fox News parent company said in a statement.

The announcement comes after weeks of renewed scrutiny over O’Reilly’s behavior toward women at Fox News. O’Reilly and Fox reportedly settled several multi-million-dollar lawsuits with women who accused the host of sexual harassment.

Fox News was widely rumored to be planning to cut ties with the star host amid growing sexual harassment allegations against the anchor. An attorney for O’Reilly claimed he “has been subjected to a brutal campaign of character assassination.”

O’Reilly last appeared on air on April 11 when he announced he was taking a pre-planned vacation. The question now is whether that vacation could become permanent, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

New York Magazine reported the Murdoch family, which controls Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, is split on what to do about the host: James and Lachlan Murdoch are in favor of dismissing him, but their father, Rupert, has resisted because, as the magazine put it: “it would make it appear he was forced into a decision by the New York Times.”