Fox News says accusations of racism are distracting viewers from its primary journalistic mission, protecting sexual predators

MANHATTAN -- On Tuesday, Fox News spokeswoman Irina Briganti angrily denounced media organizations for labelling Bill O'Reilly, the network's biggest star, a racist, calling accusations of racism, "a distraction from Fox News' primary journalistic mission: protecting sexual predators."

In an interview with the New York Times, Briganti acknowledged The O'Reilly Factor host contributed to the media firestorm by making a series of flagrantly racist comments about Rep. Maxine Waters last week. 

"But O'Reilly can't defined by racism. That's just how he pays the bills. His real passion is sexual predation," she said, pointing to the five Fox News employees who have sued O'Reilly for sexual harassment. 

Briganti said Fox News' misogyny "extends far beyond O'Reilly."  She insisted that the importance of exploiting, harassing, punishing and sexually assaulting women who work for Fox News, "is a value shared by men at every level of the company, and one that's fiercely defended by every old white man at the very top of the organization." She pointed to Fox News's longtime chairman Roger Ailes, whose unparalleled career of sexual predation "ensured four generations of young women at Fox never had access to the feminist gateway drug: the sensation of physical safety."

Finally, Briganti pointed to the network's unflagging support of failed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying "he basically confessed to being a serial rapist on TV, and no one here gave a damn. Except for Megyn Kelly. And that's why she had to die."