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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.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
10-12-2007 @ 3:52PM
ratbert said...
To those whose eyes glaze over in wonderment,
citing how highly rated O'Reilly's program is--
Think of the jerks who stop in traffic to watch a 4 car accident in the opposite lane...
10-12-2007 @ 4:24PM
V.S. said...
People who say Bill O'Reilly is a bigot are way overboard on this one. He is not....This is a smear campaign by simple minded, liberals having nothing better to do. By the way, O'Reilly is an independent, not conservative, not liberal. Get a life people or just turn the channel if you can not take the truth once in awhile. Go live in Venezuela with that wack-o Chavez for awhile if America is to bad for you..
10-12-2007 @ 4:20PM
V.S. said...
O'Reilly is alright and if you don't like the truth in what he says, turn the damn channel wimps!
11-07-2007 @ 7:25PM
al said...
I find it amusing to read the comments of the O'Riley haters. I know they are all Dammmmocrats because few of them can spell . If they cannot understand the English language, no wonder they cannot understand the truth when some one spoon feeds it to them. They are such horrible haters of everything and everyone who stands for law and order and good gov't. It is evident that they know very little of the truth of what is going on in this world.