Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was seen threatening an airline worker earlier this month after his flight was delayed by several hours.
Video of the incident, which was obtained by the Daily Mail, shows the 72-year-old conservative confronting a JetBlue employee at New York’s JFK airport on the morning of April 3.
O’Reilly, who was traveling to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, can be heard demanding to know why his flight was three hours late.
“What you’re gonna do… it’s three hours late,” he says. “No, no, no, You’re gonna find out.”
O’Reilly can be heard saying the employee is lucky he isn’t using his “fist.”
The conversation escalates further after the airline employee responds to O’Reilly, although it remains unclear what was said.
“You fucking scumbag,” the conservative commentator responds. “Don’t talk to me like that.”
O’Reilly then appears to look at the worker’s name tag, leading the man to hold it up for the former talk show host to read.
After O’Reilly becomes visibly angry and reportedly starts cursing, the airline employee can be heard accusing the conservative of threatening him.
“You’re threatening me with violence, man,” the JetBlue worker says.
O’Reilly can then be heard denying that any such threats actually took place.
“You’re gonna lose your job,” O’Reilly responds.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, the individual who filmed the encounter expressed shock over the conservative’s behavior.
“I couldn’t believe how arrogant he was,” the man said. “That poor JetBlue guy just works there, it’s not his fault the flight was delayed, he was just trying to do his job.”
Although the airline declined to comment, citing its unfamiliarity with the video, O’Reilly responded to the fiasco by blaming the airline worker.
“The guy was arrogant and falsely accused me of threatening him and I said, ‘You’re lucky I didn’t do that,’” O’Reilly told the Daily Mail.
O’Reilly is reported to have a notorious temper, as witnessed in his infamous Inside Edition clip from the 1990s in which he becomes outraged over the wording on a teleprompter.
The conservative currently hosts a podcast after being fired from Fox News in 2017 when it was revealed that the network had settled five sexual misconduct lawsuits on his behalf.
