Fox News' Bill O'Reilly stirred up a hornets nest in the mainstream media when he attempted to give a compliment to Sylvia's, a famous restaurant in Harlem, saying: "It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun."
Was the host of the "O'Reilly Factor" expecting a drive-by shooting before the main course was served, or for his fellow diners to start spontaneously rapping? Believe it or not, he dined at Sylvia's with the Rev. Al Sharpton and even picked up the check.
What O'Reilly said was obviously stupid, but is it any dumber than the other stuff he says on his broadcast? Media Matters, the liberal media watchdog group he despises, has compiled a list of his racially insensitive remarks here, which shows O'Reilly's comments on his radio show on September 19 were par for the course.
I am amazed that people are amazed by Bill O'Reilly. Evey time O'Reilly shoots off his mouth or bullies someone, people always act like something new has happened. It seems like they've never watched his show or even heard of the guy. That's why people who suggest O'Reilly is in hot water for his remarks about Sylvia's are wrong. His inflammatory rhetoric is still ratings gold. Why would News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) honcho Rupert Murdoch punish O'Reilly for being himself?
By the way, some enterprising promoter should book Sharpton and O'Reilly on the rubber chicken circuit. You can bet that some business groups would pay big bucks to have these two titans debate each other over the pressing issues of the day like rock'em sock'em robots. I sure would want to attend that conventions.
The conservative Media Research Council is outraged by the outrage, arguing "the morning after CNN and MSNBC began salivating over a potential `Imus moment' pushed by a far-left group to suppress Bill O'Reilly over a supposedly racist remark, CBS and NBC on Wednesday advanced the liberal group's cause with multi-part segments on the topic."
O'Reilly's critics aren't surpressing him, they are firing up his fan base. Instead of attacking Media Matters, O'Reilly should be thanking the group for the free publicity and so should his bosses. The best way to hurt O'Reilly is to ignore him.
The one question I haven't seen answered about this latest O'Reilly flap is who did most of the talking at the O'Reilly-Sharpton lunch. Those two gasbags are not known for letting people get in a word edgewise.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-28-2007 @ 2:46PM
Amanda said...
I am tired of idiots taking out of context what he said-by the way he was talking to Juan Williams. Bill was talking about how some people wouldn't dine in a so called "BLACK" eatery. Also Media Matters only comments on Fox News & conservative or republican leaning media personalities. A fairly one sided watch dog group.
9-28-2007 @ 2:47PM
vdroeder said...
It is time somebody realizes that all of this sq
9-28-2007 @ 3:07PM
Barry_Summerlin said...
Amanda -- just don't forget that the Media Research Council is as one-sided as Media Matters. Neither is concerned with objectivity, only in promoting their own version of the truth.
9-28-2007 @ 3:56PM
c bell said...
Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr give it a rest u liberal slob
9-28-2007 @ 7:06PM
Ed Hughes said...
I heard Juan Williams with Bill O'Reilly recently. Mr. Williams was personally outraged by the left media and their BIG BROTHER attempts to manage free speech as well as their slanted misinterpretations of his statements.
9-28-2007 @ 7:43PM
jay5 said...
O'Reilly for President!
9-29-2007 @ 8:17AM
Courtney said...
Perhaps Mr. O'Reilly's comments are just more of the same. However, the people writing, "Bill for President" are racists. I think what upsets so many of us about this moron is that he has never had a real comeuppance (?) - he gets away with all of his maddening bullshit. If he doesn't like a person or heaven's forbid they have a different viewpoint, he simply rants and turns off their sound. He isn't particularly bright and is in a position where he can influence people, and that is most unfortunate. It also shows how profoundly stupid many of the American people have become. Sad. Tragic. The decline of the empire - most definitely.
9-29-2007 @ 9:28AM
jack said...
O'Reilly is doing more than any other TV personality to heal the breach between white and black America.
9-29-2007 @ 3:22PM
Bob said...
Bill, is on his way to self destructing, it's just
a matter of time. He knows it and can't do
anything about it. He has got to be in some
controvesary most of the time, and that's
what's doing it.
The trouble is there is no place he can go for
help.
9-29-2007 @ 4:10PM
Margaret said...
If Bill O'Reilly is so bad how come the other newshows are all behind him in ratings. he is putting the truth out there instead of slanting the news to their liking.
9-30-2007 @ 10:31AM
Janet said...
Bill O'Reilly is a megalomaniacal blowhard who plays fast and loose with the facts. I would only consider watching him if I were simply interested in
hate speak and wedge issues. Nothing of value there unless your sense of humor is starved and warped.
Janet NC
9-30-2007 @ 10:31AM
bob-garrett said...
Bill 0riely --tells it like it is--but most left wingers want to make a big deal out of it--He sure as hell outpreforms cnn abc cbc abc in his truth about what is going on--Everyone takes one line out of context and blows it up trying to go on an ego trip an making asses of themselves
9-30-2007 @ 10:32AM
Larry said...
O'Reilly's bigotry is well established. Expecting a bigot not to act as one is foolish. News Corp chose O'Reilly because he is a bigot and a conservative AKA anti-American as both Murdoch and Ailes are Nazis. As pointed out the best way to deal with O'Reilly is to ignore him, he rarely tells the truth about anything, particularly of consequence. His No Spin claim is particularly hypocritical, but then hypocrisy is a right-wing value.
9-30-2007 @ 5:40PM
wayne said...
while he is offensive and loud, all of his staements to date have been verifiable and true. if what is said makes a person upset, it usualy means it's the truth. and the madder it makes you, the closer to the truth it is. seems as though there are an awful lot of people living in denial. they'd rather believe the mainstream liars. hahaha
10-03-2007 @ 10:06AM
SF said...
Amen, I also wonder who did most of the talking. As a black woman I am equally annoyed by both men. AL doesn't speak for me on "any" issues and BO is yet another overpaid media hype personality. Such a shame that with so much going on in the world I am even taking the time to comment. Shame on me for wasting my precious time and shame on everyone for bloody well caring!!
10-04-2007 @ 6:36PM
Fred Billow said...
Bill O's appeal is to those who are incapable of having an independent thought. I usually watch BO to hear his next outrageous comment and then switch to Keith Olbermann to watch him KO BO.
10-05-2007 @ 9:50PM
edgar said...
All you liberal commenters who wrote comments are so jealous because you don't have anyone as smart and up to date as Mr. O'. All you can do is write nasty and stupid comments. Stick to your Media Matters and remain ignorant and out of touch on what is really going on in this country.
10-08-2007 @ 7:31AM
Solargirl4632004 said...
Bill O'Rielly is all washed out and done in for. How can anybody not see that? He counts only his own pole's. And puts his own self out front on all of those issues that he claims that others are doing.
He looks like a Deer caught in the bright head lights of a car. No place to run & no place to hide.
He's a sad story now that time & the ways of the new world is so very different from what he use to
represent. Fox News & etc. must be at the top of the list for being the worst broadcasting TV station on the air. Fox is always trying to bring it's self up
by their own tongue. Can't help but laugh at them when they are doing that. Best darn comedy on the
tube! Fox must take the # 1 place in being the worst of everything of ALL TIMES !!
10-08-2007 @ 7:32AM
Solena said...
Bill O'Rielly is a shameful figure on the air now. Bill takes his own pole's and puts himself up as being on the top of all of the situations that he wishes .
Nobody with a good mind will ever take whatever he says seriously. He act as if one must be shake'n in the knee's whenever on his show. This is in his
mind only that he is so powerful. Why don't he go
after Osamo Bin Ladin ? Couldn't he have stopped
Mahmoud from coming to the USA? These are the type things that citizens want to see done. Maybe
he is not known in Iran. Huuuh?
10-11-2007 @ 8:36AM
JohnB said...
It is amazing how ignorant some of these posters are. They get outraged when someone tries to speak from facts and not the left-hate media masses. I have heard BO succum to facts and admit he is wrong on a few occasions, but never heard a liberal do anything except spout their shallow mantra over and over till BO gives up trying to get an intellegent conversation, and turns them off. I don't blame him for getting excited as their ignorance and nonfactual rants are an insult to the American people. The reason BO is popular, and all the other news channels are falling like flies is because the people are geting wise to it all, thanks to people like BO. You people have no idea how foolish and stupid you look by saying BO is failing. Go loock at the facts instead of the mindless parroting your cronies bullshit, like Oberman.