The Hollywood Reporter interviews Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly about his support for a 9/11 charity that helps those who lost loved ones 13 years ago today.
For once, it’s hard for anyone to disagree with Bill O’Reilly. The Fox News Channel’s biggest ratings grabber — and sometimes most polarizing personality — long has been advocating for and helping fund Tuesday’s Children, a New York-based nonprofit family service that still, after 13 years, offers guidance, special events and other programs for children and spouses who lost loved ones during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “My campaign is to raise awareness that 9/11 continues, that these kids need to be supported by Americans,” O’Reilly, 64, tells THR. “It’s the right thing to do.”
For O’Reilly, a Long Island native, keeping the memory of what happened alive is vital.
“My neighborhood is different,” he says, “because we are still furious in a very personal way.” The trick, he says, is to channel that anger into productive avenues. “In my job, I try to expose evil. But in my private life, I try to fund charities that help those who have been touched by evil. I’m lucky to have that platform.”
This morning, broadcast and cable news networks marked the 13-year anniversary since the attack.