For the first time since his ouster from Fox News, Bill O'Reilly spoke out publicly Monday about the sexual harassment accusations that ended his career as the news network's megastar host  – vowing that Americans will "be shaken" when they learn the "truth" about the whole affair.

Following a vacation from Fox News from which he never returned to his show, "The O'Reilly Factor," O'Reilly hosted a podcast and mentioned his dismissal following numerous accusations by women of sexual harassment, charges that hurt the show's advertising revenue. (Many readers had difficulty accessing O'Reilly's podcast, as his website appeared to struggle with handling the online traffic.)

O'Reilly spoke only briefly of the scandal Monday, telling his podcast listeners:

I am sad that I'm not on television anymore. I was very surprised how it all turned out. I can't say a lot, because there's much stuff going on right now.

But I can tell you that I'm very confident the truth will come out, and when it does, I don't know if you're going to be surprised – but I think you're going to be shaken, as I am. There's a lot of stuff involved here.