Fox fires ‘Hannity’ EP after sexual harassment investigation

Fox has fired the executive producer of “Hannity” after an internal investigation into alleged sexual harassment claims.

Robert Samuel, who had previously been a producer on “The O’Reilly Factor,” was let go from the conservative commentary channel the week of Sept. 9, 2024, Brian Stelter reported in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter.

Samuel appears to have deleted his LinkedIn profile since news of his exit broke.

Samuel is the latest in a string of Fox employees, both on-camera and behind-the-scenes, who have been terminated or resigned after accusations of sexual misconduct. 

Roger Ailes, who created the network and served as its chairman and CEO faced a high profile harassment legal action brought by former host Gretchen Carlson. Other women later reported similar claims. Ailes stepped down before an investigation could be completed but denied the accusations.

Ed Henry was fired in 2020 over allegations against him, while Eric Bolling also exited the network in 2017 after accusations surfaced. 

In a statement, the network said that employees who violated its “anti-harassment, discrimination and retaliation policy are subject to appropriate remedial action, up to and including immediate termination.”

Other networks have also had high-profile players exit amid accusations, including NBC’s Matt Lauer, CBS’s Charlie Rose and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. Lauer and Rose have denied wrongdoing, with Matthews admitting to some inappropriate behavior in the past.

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No details about the claims against Samuel were immediately available and no statement from Samuel has been published. Fox’s termination action does not necessarily reflect that the claims are true. “Factor” host Bill O’Reilly himself reportedly paid at least five women to settlement sexual harassment claims against him.

A previous version of this story misidentified Samuel’s previous role on “The O’Reilly Factor.” The post has been updated.