Bill O'Reilly Turns Eric Bolling Jr. Boulder Overdose Death Into Sex Claim Attack

In September, University of Colorado Boulder student Eric Bolling Jr., namesake of former Fox News personality Eric Bolling, became the second celebrity son to die of an overdose in Colorado during a 41-day period. The tragedy underscored the rising number of opioid fatalities in the state. But this week, Bill O'Reilly, a onetime Fox News superstar who some observers believe was the biggest jerk in Denver TV history, put a new spin on the younger Bolling's death, suggesting that it may have been caused by his father's departure from Fox News following claims of sexual impropriety.

This assertion resulted in castigation from the elder Bolling, who says his son's death was accidental, as well as a rare apology from O'Reilly.

As noted in our previous coverage, we've been reporting about overdose data throughout 2017. In March, we revealed that heroin-related fatalities in Denver had jumped a staggering 933 percent since 2002, according to numbers assembled by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Moreover, this increase has been nearly as steep on a statewide basis. During the past fifteen years, fatalities related to heroin in Colorado as a whole were up 756 percent, and they've kept escalating during the past three years even as heroin deaths in Denver have leveled off.

The following month, the CDPHE issued a disturbing new report showing that heroin deaths in Colorado doubled in four years despite an enormous increase in seizures and arrests related to the drug over the same interval. Among the factors for the rise cited in the document, titled "Heroin in Colorado," was the price, which tumbled by over 60 percent during a two-year period.

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