T. Rowe Among More Than 40 Advertisers Abandoning Bill O'Reilly Show

More than 40 brands pulled their ads from "The O'Reilly Factor" this week after sexual harassment allegations surfaced involving conservative news show host Bill O'Reilly.

T. Rowe Price, which has a campus in Owings Mills, was among the companies that withdrew advertising during his show on Fox News. Others included BMW, Jenny Craig, H&R Block, Advil and Esurance.

Though O'Reilly has long been one of the network's top talents and a major hit with the Fox News audience, mounting pressure from the channel's corporate backers may put his employment in jeopardy.

Among those coming to his defense was a long-time compatriot of O'Reilly, President Trump. He told the New York Times that O'Reilly is "a good person," adding that, "I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.” The New York Times also broke the story this weekend that now imperils Fox News' bottom line, which found that "the company has repeatedly stood by Mr. O’Reilly as he faced a series of allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior." The report found that the network has paid out $13 million in settlements.

In a statement, the company Jenny Craig explained its decision Wednesday to pull its commercials: "As an organization, Jenny Craig condemns any and all forms of sexual harassment. As a matter of corporate policy, we do not publicly comment on our advertising strategy. We are constantly evaluating our media buys to maximize the efficiency of our corporate investment and effectively reach our target audience. However, we can confirm that we have suspended all ads on The O'Reilly Factor."

ThinkProgress lists the companies eschewing the O'Reilly brand. As of publication time, more than 40 advertisers have publicly announced that they do not want to be associated with the commentator.

“We value our partners and are working with them to address their current concerns about the O’Reilly Factor," Fox News Channel’s EVP of Advertising Sales Paul Rittenberg said in a statement. "At this time, the ad buys of those clients have been re-expressed into other FNC programs.”

— By Cody Fenwick (Patch National Staff)