Update: It’s official — 21st Century Fox announced Bill O’Reilly “will not return to the Fox News Channel.”

https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/854765330656247808

Update: New reporting from CNN, The Wall Street Journal and a well-sourced New York magazine reporter suggested earlier that O’Reilly would not return to Fox News where high-level executives are reportedly discussing his exit. The reports follow days of speculation that peaked Tuesday with a tweet from right-leaning news aggregator Matt Drudge.

Who could replace Bill O'Reilly and 'The O'Reilly Factor'?

On Tuesday, Drudge unleashed a frenzy of media speculation with a single vaguely worded tweet suggesting that the embattled Fox News host Bill O’Reilly may be done at the network.

“O’Reilly has had tremendous run, Very few in the business get to decide when and how things end. Media is most brutal of all industries,” Drudge tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

Drudge’s tweet refered to mounting speculation over whether O’Reilly’s more than 20 years reign at the network may soon come to an end after he faced bruising sexual harassment allegations made against him in a New York Times article earlier this month.

Calls for his firing came as dozens of brands pulled their advertising from O’Reilly’s top-rated show The O’Reilly Factor, further pressuring network executives to address the issue. A Tuesday story about a pending behind-the-door decision on whether to fire O’Reilly added fuel to the speculation.

On Tuesday, Drudge’s tweet was shared and analyzed by media observers including Margaret Sullivan, the former New York Times public editor, and Vivian Schiller , the former media executive at NPR, NBC and Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Sulliview/status/854443358403444736

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/854430552627322883

https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/854435824225660928

https://twitter.com/mathewi/status/854432862564732929

https://twitter.com/vivian/status/854460065293533184

Others were careful to take Drudge’s word for granted. Some pointed out that the right-leaning aggregator has a record of sharing stories that are exaggerated. “Fake news,” one person tweeted.

https://twitter.com/marktuckerphoto/status/854432668838236160

https://twitter.com/JasonHornbuckle/status/854436009458757633

https://twitter.com/sherandnolan/status/854437576152928258

Last week, O’Reilly went off the air for a two-week vacation with a scheduled return on April 24, CNN’s Dylan Byers reported. OnTuesday afternoon, there had been no official word on whether he would return to the network at all.

We’ll post updates to this story as it develops.

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Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

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UPDATES:

11:54 a.m.: This article was updated with an official announcement from 21st Century Fox.

This article was originally published on Tuesday, April 18, at 3:20 p.m.