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O'Reilly's complaint about being taken out of context on race rings hollow

July 23, 2010 11:55 pm ET by Mike Burns

On his Fox News show tonight, Bill O'Reilly hosted former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to opine on whether President Obama is "avoiding unpleasant realities of race." Responding to Brown's comment that Obama has "been somewhat successful when the issue of race has surfaced without his guidance," O'Reilly complained that every time he talks about race his words "get taken out of context" and "he's branded a racist." But O'Reilly has a history of making racially charged statements:

  • Discussing a dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at the Harlem restaurant Sylvia's, O'Reilly stated that he "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." O'Reilly added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' " 
  • During the February 5, 2007, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, in a conversation about President Bush's description of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as "articulate," O'Reilly told Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill: "Instead of black and white Americans coming together, white Americans are terrified. They're terrified. Now we can't even say you're articulate? We can't even give you guys compliments because they may be taken as condescension?"
  • During the April 12, 2006, broadcast of his radio show, which has since been canceled, O'Reilly claimed that on the April 11 edition ofThe O'Reilly Factor, guest Charles Barron, a New York City councilman, had revealed the "hidden agenda" behind the current immigration debate, which, O'Reilly said, was "to wipe out 'white privilege' and to have the browning of America." O'Reilly suggested that this "hidden agenda" included plans to let "people who live in the Caribbean, people who live in Africa and Asia ... walk in and become citizens immediately."
  • And let's not forget about O'Reilly's remark in 2009 in which he asked, "[S]hould white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor?"

Media Matters provided the full context of O'Reilly's remarks in documenting each of those examples when they occurred, including video or audio, and in most cases transcript. O'Reilly's complaints about being taken out of context ring hollow.

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    • Author by soze169880 (July 24, 2010 12:37 am ET)
      9  
      I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that
      A- faillibrul is going to comment on this
      and
      B- its comment will completely ignore the substance of the post and instead be something about the New Black Panthers.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by eweston8542983 (July 24, 2010 1:01 am ET)
        6  
        He must be waiting impatiently for a new talking point to drive into the ground.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by highlyunlikely (July 24, 2010 1:43 am ET)
        5  
        fakeliberal and O'Reilly will do what they always do. what I wanna know is why Mayor Brown would agree to appear on FOX.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by terrapin53 (July 24, 2010 11:07 am ET)
        5  
        If he responds he will say he is number one in the ratings and kicks everyone's arse night after night. That's his response to everything.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Andy Kreiss (July 24, 2010 3:39 pm ET)
          3  
          Terrapin, are you talking about BilldO or Failliberal? ( I believe Faily is a woman)

          I guess it doesn't really matter, as O'Reilly's groupies are just as good as he is at using the " Over 1 Billion Sold !" defense. Sure, he's an A-hole, a racist and a liar, but a lotta people watch him !

          That's why posters like Faillib do all the things mentioned above, often closing with a link to an old Youtube clip showing a Democrat making a gaffe, which also proves that BilldO is right and all leftys are stoopid.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by MickD (July 24, 2010 2:42 am ET)
      4  
      True, he's quaking because maybe the lies won't be as effective.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by boulderhippy (July 24, 2010 4:33 am ET)
      2 16
      MMFA has peoven Holder right abuot being cowards. It isn't O'Reilly tha is being a coward. MMFA seems to want to shut down truthful, honest dialog.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by congero6189599 (July 24, 2010 5:33 am ET)
        6 1
        Up to early?
        Report Abuse
      • Author by peace4all (July 24, 2010 7:15 am ET)
        10 1
        the right would not know truthful dialog if it jumped up and bit them. behold, death panels, ACORN and child prostitution, ms. sherrod, birther nonsense, WMD. that's just a few. but you can pick just about any subject and find that for the right to ONLY way to win is to deceive people. for a bunch of followers of Jesus they sure missed his messege.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by eb (July 24, 2010 8:04 am ET)
        7 1
        MMFA seems to want to shut down truthful, honest dialog.

        Nowhere does this website advocate shutting down anyones dialog. Holding people accountable for what they say is the goal. Why do conservative media celebrities think they can be on the airwaves for hours giving opinion and not be subject to criticism?
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Andy Kreiss (July 24, 2010 3:43 pm ET)
          4  
          You're not using the wingnut dictionary, eb. That's where "Free Speech" is defined as; right wingers saying anything they want is protected by the First Amendment and any response to or criticism of their words is censorship.

          Report Abuse
      • Author by mattcable250650 (July 24, 2010 8:46 am ET)
        6 1
        Erm, what "truthful, honest dialog" was O'Reilly trying to engage in? What O'Reilly demonstrates in these clips is that he doesn't have any close relationships with non-white, non-wealthy people. His view of black people as seen in his comment on Sylvia's restaurant is that he sees them through the lens of the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by soze169880 (July 24, 2010 10:36 am ET)
        7  
        "Truthful, honest dialog"= assuming all black people scream for motherf--king iced tea, and then being tone-deaf enough to air that assumption?
        ...I'm scared of what you think actual racial insensitivity sounds like.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by New Frontier (July 24, 2010 12:57 pm ET)
        11  
        MMFA seems to want to shut down truthful, honest dialog. --boulderhippy
        Oh, really? No, O'REILLY.

        A video collection of O'Reilly ordering various people to "Shut up".

        Then there's these (and lots more):

        Scout's Honor
        [To an atheist Eagle Scout, Darrell Lambert]: "I want to quote this—'On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and to my country and obey Scout law,' on and on and on and on. I mean, God's in the first 10 words. So why did you have to tell them you were an atheist if you didn't have any trouble reading the oath? Why didn't you just shut up?"
        —Oct. 30, 2002

        Welcome to My Show To Talk About Sex. Now, Please Put a Cork in It.
        "My thesis, you may know, is that nobody should ever talk about their sexuality in any—in any regard ever. You should not define yourself that way. It just makes life a lot rougher. So, therefore, I would probably say, if you're a gay celebrity, shut up."
        —March 21, 2001

        "I am in favor of having equal treatment for everyone. But I'm also in favor of having everybody in the military shut up about their sexuality. All right. Not discuss it, it's not germane. It's irrelevant."
        —Dec. 20, 2000

        "You can do whatever you want. Just shut up about it. Little kids don't need to know whether you're homosexual, heterosexual, a cross-dresser, whatever. Don't discuss it. That's reasonable."
        —Sept. 28, 2000

        "I don't want the Scout master to tell my boys if he's gay, if he's straight, if he's a bigamist, if he's anything. I don't think that has any place in Scouting, so therefore I don't think the Scouts are wrong in saying shut up. We just don't want to hear about this."
        —Aug. 29, 2000

        "Why didn't you just—why—why didn't you just not say anything? This—I never can get this for you guys, and I—and I don't mean to be arrogant or anything like—I just don't get it. Just shut up about it. Who cares what you do? That's what the Air Force is asking you to do. shut up"
        —June 8, 2000

        "If I were Rosie O'Donnell and I didn't want to get married, I'd shut up The same thing with Madonna. Have the kids if you—you know, obviously, they have money. They can support the kids. But I'd shut up"
        —Dec. 14, 1999

        "I'm asking you to shut up about sex."
        —Sept. 23, 2002

        O'Reilly: "I don't go running around telling everybody about my sex life, and I don't think you do either, do you?"
        Hugh Downs: "No, you don't have to—"
        O'Reilly: "So just shut up about it."
        —July 2, 2001

        Shut Up, Pinhead!
        To Mike McGough of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial page, who accuses O'Reilly of exploiting a murder victim's sister who appeared on O'Reilly's show:
        "Hey, Mike, shut up. I resent the fact that you said that we exploited this woman. We gave this woman a voice. That's something that you and your stupid newspaper would never do, you pinhead. You would never do that. "
        —Nov. 13, 2002
        Report Abuse
    • Author by stevensm (July 24, 2010 7:15 am ET)
      7 1
      O'Reilly stated that he "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." O'Reilly added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' "


      O'Reilly is never going to live that one down or be able to explain it away try though he may. The real Bill O'Reilly was revealed.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by highlyunlikely (July 24, 2010 7:00 pm ET)
        5  
        and to this day he doesn't - or refuses to - understand why his surprise constituted racism. He really believes - or pretends to believe - that the fact that he admitted his assumptions were contradicted is an example of an enlightened mind. That's obtuse.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by oneleft (July 25, 2010 6:20 am ET)
        2  
        exactly.
        is there anything more racist than "well i'll be damned! honey, just have a look at that! why, they're acting just like us regular folk! who woulda thunk! i can't wait to tell the boys back home!"
        Report Abuse

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