Tue, Jun 7, 2005 2:58pm ET

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Thomas More cruise organizers pull plug on O'Reilly appearance

Organizers of a fund-raising cruise to benefit the conservative Thomas More Law Center have apparently pulled the plug on an appearance by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly had promoted the cruise on his TV show and website. The website sweetjesusihatebilloreilly.com (SJIHBO) reported that an automated voice message at the phone number listed in an ad for the cruise now informs callers that "[u]nfortunately, the cruise did not have the participation that all parties anticipated," and that therefore "the guest appearance by Mr. O'Reilly and the other speakers have been canceled." Media Matters for America confirmed the message by calling the number listed in the ad.

While the "featured links" page of O'Reilly's website still has a link to the Thomas More Law Center, a search of the site found no current promotion of the cruise. The center's website does not mention O'Reilly. The web page promoting the cruise at Corporate Travel Services (CTS), the group arranging the trip, no longer exists, though the promotional flyer is still online (as of this posting). A Nexis search* revealed only one mention of the cruise in 2005 -- aside from O'Reilly's promotion on his April 19 show -- an article in The Australian, which linked to the now-defunct CTS promotion page. The Thomas More Law Center reportedly told SJIHBO that "the response was surprisingly poor."

Media Matters has previously noted that despite O'Reilly's participation and promotion of the cruise, his stated views on topics such as abortion and "morality" laws conflict with the positions of the Thomas More Law Center.

*Nexis search: "(O'Reilly or Denton) and Thomas More and (cruis! or Caribbean or getaway or appear! or lecture)" in 2005 on the All News database.

—R.S.K.

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