Posted on 09/26/2007 4:00:36 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan
NEW YORK - Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly said Wednesday his critics took remarks he made about a famed Harlem restaurant out of context and "fabricated a racial controversy where none exists." He criticized the liberal group Media Matters for America as "smear merchants" for publicizing statements he made on his radio show last week.
O'Reilly told his radio audience that he dined with civil rights activist Al Sharpton at Sylvia's recently and "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference" between the black-run restaurant and others in New York City.
It was just like a suburban Italian restaurant, he said. "There wasn't any kind of craziness at all," he said.
O'Reilly told The Associated Press that Media Matters had "cherry-picked" remarks out of a broader conversation about racial attitudes. He had told listeners that his grandmother — and many other white Americans — feared blacks because they didn't know any and were swayed by violent images in black culture.
"If you listened to the full hour, it was a criticism of racism on the part of white Americans who are ignorant of the fact that there is no difference between white and black anymore," he told the AP. "Circumstances may be different in their lives but we're all Americans. Anyone who would be offended by that conversation would have to be looking to be offended."
His radio show was a conversation with Fox News contributor Juan Williams, author of a book about the coarseness of some black culture. Williams defended O'Reilly during a Tuesday appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor."
"It's so frustrating," Williams said. "They want to shut you up. They want to shut up anybody who has an honest discussion about race."
The controversy was similar to one that enveloped presidential candidate Joe Biden last winter. When Biden praised rival Barack Obama as "articulate" and "clean," many saw this as a way of conveying these were unusual characteristics for blacks.
Sylvia's manager Trenness Woods-Black told the New York Daily News that O'Reilly's remarks were "insulting" and showed he has little knowledge of the black community.
At one point on the radio show, Williams mentioned that too many people see little else in black culture beyond profane rap. "That's right," O'Reilly said. "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, `M.F.-er, I want more iced tea.'"
Karl Frisch, spokesman for Media Matters, said it is typical for O'Reilly to criticize his group for merely reporting what he says.
"We didn't call him a racist," Frisch said. "We said his comments were ignorant and racially charged and we stand by that."
O'Reilly said the Williams conversation was carried on more than 400 radio stations and there wasn't one complaint from a listener.
"This isn't about a racially insensitive remark," he said. "Anybody can listen to the unedited version of the conversation on billoreilly.com. You want to think I'm insensitive to race, you go right ahead."
The real story, he said, was about the "corrupt media culture" where outlets like CNN and MSNBC do stories about his remarks "because they're getting killed in the ratings."
"The O'Reilly Factor" is seen by more people — 2.2 million average this year — than its direct competitors on MSNBC and CNN combined. MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann averages 721,000 viewers in the time slot while CNN's 8 p.m. show averages 611,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.
OReilly is a liberal who plays a conservative on TV...that said, seems that Kirin Chetry who raised this first may have had first hand experience with OReilly’s Ego...and is simply enjoying some ‘payback’. So what you have is a personal vendetta playing Media Matters as a useful fool! (Isn’t Media Matters only job to bash Fox?)
Now when I look at this it’s just like Dan Rather vs CBS...time for more Popcorn!
Kinda odd she knows no black Americans. Where has she lived all these years?
Anyway, hope Bill enjoys a piece of his own medicine after he smeared this site without warrant just to "appear" fair and balanced when he was going after the left. I have no inclination to defend him.
Paternalists, being no friends of liberty, get very little sympathy from me, especialy when the pretend or attempt to mislead you into believing they are in favor of liberty. It's actually more dissapointing when you come to the realization that a trusted ally turns out not to be trusted nor an ally at all.
He doesn’t understand fair and balanced. He strains so hard to suck up that he loses all perspective. LOSER!
I really like Bill and his show. Hitting FR was stupid.. I haven’t followed that much. He has an ego, but he acknowledges it alot.
The realy criticism Bill deserves is trying to be a little soft on the War in Iraq. He supports it in his remarks generally, but puts more emphasis on Iraqis stepping up... which obviously is a good position as well, but not as strong as I would like.
FOX has been praising Rudy excessively and people like Murdoch? I believe are holding fundraisers for Hillary.
They haven’t exactly been our friends in awhile. O’Reilly certainly hasn’t been FreeRepublic’s friend after he smeared this place for hate speech, he was begging Kerry to appear on his show while trashing the swiftee’s, and he wasn’t America’s friend during the illegal immmigration debate.
Bill will probably squirm his way out of this, but I’m not going to help him swiften the pace. he’s just getting a little of his own medicine.
I’ll protect talk radio and the internet. I could care less about protecting FOX news anymore.
Excellent description of the entire situation.
Bill O’Reilly says dumb stuff for ratings. His research is careless and, generally speaking, I don’t think much of him. But to be thrilled when Media Matters, an outfit with a big and ugly agenda, takes on another smear job because our ox got gored, however unfairly, is misguided and childish, imo.
Bill O'Reilly is not one of my favorites, but I think you and most of the posters on this thread are overlooking the larger picture.
Any time the race hustlers and poverty pimps manage to smear someone unfairly as a racist, it is a problem for all of us. It emboldens the Left, which has gotten away with this kind of thing for far too long.
Note too that O'Reilly is not being attacked because he attacked Free Republic. Those who attacked him would just as gladly attack Free Republics or indeed any conservative.
Whenever anyone (including Bill O'Reilly) is accused of racism, we should demand accountability from the accusers. Either prove the accusation or apologize and shut up.
It's going to be tough. Make I should take her to dinner so we can talk things over.
God no....I’m not an O’Reilly fan but as long as he kicks the butt of that a-hole olbermann, I hope he stays where he’s at....
BOR pissing and moaning about his reputation being smeared? That’s rich!
Yes, there do happen to be a lot of skanks in Elk Grove
So...How much support is he getting at KOS?
/SARC
I’m tempted to email him a link to this thread with the message, “Do you get it now?”
I think you are taking a pretty narrow, shortsighted view on this. Granted, O’Rielly can be obnoxious but if the media can blatantly lie like this and not get called out on it anywhere but from the victim, it bodes poorly for any other conservative. Duncan Hunter could be next. You don’t have to like Bill O to see him as the canary in the coal mine.
I think its ironic that hes saying he was taken out of context....rofl
Kismet...the universe realigned.
Note too that O’Reilly is not being attacked because he attacked Free Republic. Those who attacked him would just as gladly attack Free Republics or indeed any conservative.
Whenever anyone (including Bill O’Reilly) is accused of racism, we should demand accountability from the accusers. Either prove the accusation or apologize and shut up.
Bill O’Reilly earned the comments being posted on this thread. However; if we really stand for what’s right we should be contacting CNN and FOX about the misinformation.
He was able to make that little girl that said she talked to him on the phone while he used a dildo on himself or masturbated (or whatever) go away rather quickly. This should be no problem.
I think he’s obnoxious but I have to agree that he’s being “smeared”.
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