O'Reilly: "[I]s there a 50 Cent that we have to put up" for Kwanzaa?

Responding to a caller's assertion that no other "religious symbol other than the Nativity should be put up during Christmas," Bill O'Reilly stated on the December 19 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor that "if you're generous, you [should] put up all the symbols." Continuing, O'Reilly asserted that "there's really only one [other] symbol, and that's the menorah. There's no Kwanzaa symbol." O'Reilly, presumably referring to the rapper 50 Cent, then asked if "there [was] a 50 Cent that we have to put up" to honor Kwanzaa. He was later corrected and told that there is "a Kwanzaa symbol," which he characterized as "a candelabra like Liberace had." Kwanzaa is an African-American and Pan-African holiday celebrated from December 26-January 1.

From the December 19 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

CALLER: I don't think that any religious symbol other than the Nativity should be put up during Christmas because Christmas is a federal holiday. Hanukkah is not, and winter solstice isn't. If they want them that way, pass the law and then you can put them up.

O'REILLY: Yeah. But then when you get into the exclusionary, you get into, "Yeah, it's a federal holiday, but we're only gonna honor the secular meaning of the holiday. We're not gonna honor the religion." And then you get the little baby Jesus. I can see where you're coming from. But I don't think -- look, the spirit of the season is goodwill toward men, correct, [caller]?

CALLER: Yes.

O'REILLY: All right. So goodwill toward men means you're generous. And then if you're generous, you put up all the symbols. There is only -- there's really only one symbol, and that's the menorah. There's no Kwanzaa symbol. Maybe -- is there a 50 Cent that we have to put up or something? Is there a Kwanzaa symbol? What is that? It's a candelabra like Liberace had? All right. We'll put that up, too. I don't mind.

—J.M.