CNN's Sanchez noted O'Reilly falsehood about on-air complaints
On CNN's Out in the Open, Rick Sanchez said Bill O'Reilly "told me on the phone that nobody complained about the show that he had done on the air," referring to the radio show in which O'Reilly made controversial comments about race. Sanchez continued: "Guess what? Somebody did complain on the air to him directly." Sanchez then aired audio of a caller's complaint -- identified by Media Matters -- about O'Reilly's race-related comments during the same radio show.
On the September 27 edition of CNN's Out in the Open, anchor Rick Sanchez said that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly "told me on the phone that nobody complained about the show that he had done on the air," referring to the September 19 broadcast of O'Reilly's nationally syndicated radio show, in which he made controversial comments about race. Sanchez continued: "Guess what? Somebody did complain on the air to him directly." Sanchez twice aired audio -- documented by Media Matters for America -- of a caller complaining generally about O'Reilly's race-related comments during the same September 19 edition of his radio show. The caller criticized O'Reilly for "giving fodder to your viewers who have a negative view of black people." Sanchez also noted that O'Reilly "told other members of the media that. And he repeated that claim Monday on his television show." Indeed, as Media Matters noted, a September 26 Associated Press article reported that "O'Reilly said the [National Public Radio senior correspondent and Fox News contributor Juan] Williams conversation was carried on more than 400 radio stations and there wasn't one complaint from a listener."
As the blog Inside Cable News noted, Sanchez went on to say: "Here's what surprises me about this. If people are offended by something that you have said, why not just say, 'I apologize to those who were offended' and then just move on? Instead, after I called O'Reilly to get his response before we aired our report, he lambasted me. He screamed at me. He demeaned me for even considering doing a story about him." Sanchez continued: "Why not just apologize, Bill, and then just move on? Admit it was a stupid thing to say and just be done with it? Because racist or not, intentional or not, one thing is indisputable: It was a stupid thing to say."
From the September 27 edition of CNN's Out in the Open:
SANCHEZ: Tonight, in the wake of the questionable and controversial comments by Bill O'Reilly, we're going to revisit the issue of race.
We found something else, by the way. Remember that I had reported that O'Reilly told me on the phone that nobody complained about the show that he had done on the air?
Guess what? Somebody did complain on the air to him directly. And we've got that recording. Here's part of it.
[begin audio clip]
O'REILLY: John, Indianapolis. What say you, John?
CALLER: I think your spinning and bloviating does not do the black community justice. You're just giving fodder to your viewers who have a negative view of black people anyway, so your pointing out a couple of Twistas and Ludacrises in the large general population is shameful.
[end audio clip]
SANCHEZ: Important to note that he's on the record with several members of the media saying that nobody complained.
We've got a couple of reports on this controversy that we've lined up for you tonight. Stay tuned for those.
[...]
SANCHEZ: And there you have it, a couple of opinions from diners that I spoke to in Harlem at a restaurant that's called Sylvia's, the center of controversy sparked by Bill O'Reilly after he talked about dining in that restaurant on his radio show recently. Among his remarks, O'Reilly said he couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between this restaurant and other restaurants even though it was run by blacks.
Tonight, we examine this controversy sparked by what Bill O'Reilly said. And we're going to start with another fact check, because we've been looking at some of the things he said and then looking at the record. When I called him on Monday, remember I told you this, to get his response, O'Reilly told me that there wasn't one complaint from any of the listeners to his radio show the day that he made those comments. He also told other members of the media that. And he repeated that claim Monday on his television show.
O'REILLY [video clip]: Recently on The Radio Factor, I did an hour on how racism is dumb, how it is driven by fear, and I even used my own late grandmother as an example. Now, you can hear that radio hour on BillOreilly.com. It's very interesting discussion. And we didn't hear one complaint about the program that ran on more than 400 radio stations.
SANCHEZ: Not one complaint. Well, we checked the record. In fact, we listened to the recording of the entire show and found a caller who was upset and did complain. This is John on the radio calling O'Reilly's show now, from Indianapolis.
[begin audio clip]
O'REILLY: John, Indianapolis. What say you, John?
CALLER: I think your spinning and bloviating does not do the black community justice. You're just giving fodder to your viewers who have a negative view of black people anyway, so your pointing out a couple of Twistas and Ludacrises in the large general population is shameful.
[end audio clip]
SANCHEZ: Here's what surprises me about this. If people are offended by something that you have said, why not just say, "I apologize to those who were offended" and then just move on? Instead, after I called O'Reilly to get his response before we aired our report, he lambasted me. He screamed at me. He demeaned me for even considering doing a story about him. Why not just apologize, Bill, and then just move on? Admit it was a stupid thing to say and just be done with it?
Because racist or not, intentional or not, one thing is indisputable: It was a stupid thing to say.
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O'Reilly's getting owned.
Hey MMfA, maybe you should word the title a bit differently, it read to me at first glance like Sanchez was repeating misinfo, when in reality he was calling out O'Reilly for it.
dexteritas0071418: "O'Reilly's getting owned."
LOL. No way. MM mustered all it could to drive O'Reilly off the air, ala Imus, and its efforts fell completely flat.
It was MM who was owned ... totally.
Shoes,
You still have not defended O'Reilly's statement. Why?
Ratings blah blah blah blah ratings blah blah blah Olbermann blah blah blah Ratings.
On Friday night, Sanchez actually had found TWO criticisms on BOR's radio show, not just one.
With Rupert Murdoch taking any potential ad revenue hit, he wouldn't be removed. As a matter of fact this probably cements him in better. To remove him now would look weak from a Neocons' perspective. Now if all of sudden got ethical and started telling the truth, he'd get canned.
What kind of advertisers target old racists anyway?
You need some oder eaters cause your understanding of the situation smells like a fart in an elevator.
LOL. No way. MM mustered all it could to drive O'Reilly off the air, ala Imus, and its efforts fell completely flat. Shoes
You got it all wrong. We don't want Bill off the air, he is the gift that keeps on giving each and every time he opens his mouth!
Cheers to that!
Hear me now and forget me later.
MMFA is not finished yet. Stay tuned.
And your evidence MMFA is trying to drive The big egO off the air, even though they never SAID any such thing is WHAT again? Oh thats right those amazing non-existant mind reading powers. You can show yourself out.
I'd comment on this but Bill has hired me to go after smearers. I begin today as soon as Fox sends me a list of all of their on-air mouthpieces. Bill will personally handle Rush. Sorry for taking up this space. But from here down, be AFRAID, be very AFRAID. I'm watching.
Signed The Prince of Smearers
Kudos to Sanchez. "Racist or not, intentional or not, one thing is indisputable: it was a stupid thing to say." Nicely done. This is what I told the robot on the phone at FOX news. Don't lash out at everyone else without even looking at what you said. The network itself even took this approach! How can we function well when such a huge section of our society is sociopathic? As much as the dumb comments themselves Bill O and his weird company should take lots of heat for their reaction to people saying, "Hey, that's offensive."
I agree it would have been the best way to handle it but admitting a mistake or misstatement is not included in O'Reilly's image of himself so his head would have exploded.
Stupid is as Stupid Does
And that would be BO- I really do think he has a significant mental health issue, but it really doesn't excuse tha mainstream media, sponsors, and even Faux Noise for allowing the idiot in his calculated or delusional state to continue to lie, attack, and smear. Of course the very thing he accuses those who print his exact words in full context with full transcript.
It's ridiculous that Media Matters is subjected to his name calling and outragous labeling, when I have NEVER read one attack on BO by MM on this site. They simply print what he has said. Why doesn't anyone call him publically, loudly, and incessantly on this?
He and he alone is responsible for his assine remarks "having legs." And I'm quite sure there are many in the black community and every other color of skin, race, and ethinic background that found BO's remarks offensive and racist.
BO screens his calls and it's RARE when there is dissent on this radio show. I heard another black caller try and express how he also found BO's remarks that fuel negative sterotypes offensive, and BO did his "claasic" raised voice, border line souting- "Did you hear the whole show? Did you listen to the whole hour? Do you know what the context is/" Constantily interrupting the caller and finally cutting him off.
This has not been a campaign but Media Matters to get BO off the air. They have been simply posting his inane and insane statements, and pointing out the contradictions, again with his own words, prviding transcripts the way they have been doing since launching this site.
He's not the only hot air ballon that gets posted here, and it's not all the right wing fanatics either. New York Times articles are routinely listed with misinformation on this site, as well as many other print and "air" news outlets.
This has been a rather spectacular show BO is putting on, with the latest with his threats demonstrating just how unhinged this guy is.
It could have gone away with a simple apology...
Bad move, Sanchez.Say "move on" to O'eilly and he'll start on about the whole "Petraeus/BetrayUs" strawman.
Why is that a strawman? Because it has nothing to do with what O'Reilly said?
Ah! Another whole generation of "news anchors" whom I do not even recognize! Is Sanchez really this daring and truthful, or is it just that MMFA has begun to make O'LIElly look vulnerable?
CNN is certainly no hotbed of liberal slant, but I would cheer if O'LIElly and FoxLIES were to suffer substantial losses - say, every dime or dollar ever minted or printed, and still have unfunded liabilites sufficient to pay for our first faster-than-light spaceship.
The caller doesn't seem to be talking about the restaurant discussion. He seems to be referring to O'Reilly's discussion of the rapper Ludacris.
If you listen to the tape, Bill the Idiot references Twista, Snoop Dogg and Ludacris in his discussion of how amazingly normal the black people at Sylvia's were.
Why couldn't Billdo just apologize...
That's exactly what I thought. Just say, "I said a stupid thing there, please refer to the whole transcript and you'll see my intent was not to make a rascist statement." The whole thing would have gone away.
Why couldn't Billy do it?
I think his ego and inflated sense of self is so huge that it's simply not possible to admit he made a mistake. There's a real psychosis at work.
For years, O’Reilly has told his audience that the Black culture has become “Gangster Rap” and that the Black community should fight back and reclaim it.
Then, after a dinner date in Harlem with Al Sharpton, O’Reilly reports to his audience how he “couldn’t get over” the fact that blacks civility and attire was no different than that of whites in other parts of New York. (Completely the opposite of what he had been telling his audience about Blacks over the years).
Then, when someone points out his bigoted statements, O’Reilly attacks the messenger and hides behind any talking head, (especially a Black one) that will excuse and defend his comments.
For years O’Reilly has lambasted Rev. Jesse Jackson and challenged him to come on his show to face the tough questions. But when Rev Jackson came on his show days after and during the heat of the controversy, O’Reilly in a shameful indirect way solicited Jackson and Sharpton’s support.
You’ve gotta love it.
Causin Chaos, thanks for that perfect analysis of O'Reilly and his disingenuousness. You hit it right on the nail!
Ugh... Don't you people know the difference between a comment and a complaint? Sure it was a negative comment but the caller didn't ask for an apology, retraction or to be connected to the complaint department. I can't believe that there are people in this world who actually spend their time on this type of "trivial pursuit".
(ducking now before personal insults are hurled)
O'Reilly's audience should take a hard look at themselves and ask if they truely believe what he says, because they need to understand that the stereotypical "facts" on his radio, and TV show, are dirivitive of bigotry, racism, and ignorance. He can say he isn't offensive to minorities untill he's "red"-cuz he'll never be "blue"- in the face, but when those people are offended, then that proves he was offensive. A kindergardner would say, "I'm sorry," but an old, right-wing nut doesn't have to.
This is almost becoming sad, Bill O' had Jesse Jackson and Al sharpton on his show back to back nights enorder to repair his, LOL Image? or maybe his Carector
Did I miss it? Where is the condemnation of the term "happy negro" that was used when referring to Juan Williams. I guess it is OK for CNN to allow real racial slurs during its broadcasts.
Go to http://www.billoreilly.com/blog?categoryID=2 and listen to the broadcast under Sept 25. His comments were made around 4:00 and 13:00. As you will discover, it's NOTHING like Media Matters portrayed it.
I hate the way Jesse Jackson dismissed the O'Reilly firestorm as trivial and not worthy of discussion. Billo said when they were off the air Jackson told him the attacks on him were appalling. Al Sharpton appeared with Bill and pretended he had no idea what the week long controversy was about. The way O'Reilly persuaded Jackson and Sharpton to roll over and play dead was a remarkable feat. Bravo Bill, I dont know how to pulled it off.
o'reilly must have forgotton that africans in america used to live in the same homes as their masters and mistress' cooked their food, took care of their kids, etc. etc. and oh whenever they tried to escape to freedom, had limbs severed from their bodies, or were strange fruit hanging from trees.
When you contact Fox News about Bill O'Reilly, I recommend contacting his sponsors too. Otherwise the suits at Fox will ignore you.
Bossman Murdoch needs to fire Bill. This angry individual is threatening people
Sanchez speaks truth to power! Finally a progressive voice at CNN instead of that toady Blitzer. Any honest person would admit that Sanchez caught O'Reilly in a BIG FAT LIE! How can O'Reilly claim that he is not a racist and that there were no complaints about his insensitive show when there was a caller to that very same show who pointed out how O'Reilly constantly harps on the supposedly negative influences of African American rap artists? And so what that Sanchez didn't listen to O'Reilly's entire show to make sure of proper context before reporting on the isolated parts. Who would want to listen to the whole show?
I just fear that the scurrilous attacks on Sanchez will soon start because he is now obviously such a threat to the Right Wing. We will hear lrehashed ies about how his Katrina work was so inaccurate that lives might well have been lost in all the alleged fog. The smearers might even stoop to "revealing" the ancient history of how Sanchez killed someone while driving DUI. We must combat these smearers and their intimidation!
do not try to chnge the subject ie did someone complain vs is o'reilly playing the race card please sanchez talk to the real issue
I believe I caught part of that show by accident. One caller had defended some rappers from Chicago that O'Lie Lee had trash. bill-o got pissed, hung up on him and call him an idiot.
Now, that's conservanazi radio. They cannot talk in a manner of respect except to only to those that repeat their dribble.
The Southern Poverty Law Centercontinously solicits me for funds to support their activities against hate groups. The last time they called me I asked why didn't they go after a-holes like O'Lielly, limblaugh and the rest of the hate-monger. President Clinton described these types of idiots to a "T": sublty racist and overty anti-feminist.
The SPLC would only say they target hate groups. I pointed out that if one listens to the chatter of these hate groups they will find that these racist/hate mongers like to quote people like O'Lielly and the likes. People like Hannity, O'Lielly, limblaugh, Charlie Sykes, Mark "Butthead" Belling promote racism and hatred.
Yet, to this day, they continue to broadcast their republikan hate propaganda.
Thanks for continuing to point out just how horrible these lying bastards are.
BUCK FUSH!
I once again reasert my demads that Bill Oh'Really be fired out of a cannon for our amusement.
Come on, people, you know you'd like to see that.
Somehow MM seems to be going after people and organizations they don't seem to like. It takes things out of context in an apparent attempt to besmirch those who promote an honest non-liberal stance. I am not so sure I trust it to be fair. No, y'all seem to be spiteful and condescending and I am choosing to not support y'all in any way.
Just went back to the show re: the caller. This is about the rapper thing not comments re: restaurant. I understand the news shows going after this. It gets them ratings (or they hope) and it is all about the dollar. But what scares me the most is the people making these posts. You cry about lies but blindly following what is told to you as gospel and truth.
Are we all so ignorant that we believe that only the far right has an agenda and is willing to use misinformation to gain favor? We have became a society that wants to believe in something, anything, and feel the power of our voice being heard but are unwilling or too lazy to check the parts of information that is spoon feed us against the whole.
WAKE UP – posting is not power, knowledge is.
This guy Sanchez ought to go back to school (if he ever did get educated, which is highly doubtful). Nobody did complain to O'Reilly about the restaurant comments so I have no idea what this moron is talking about. He played a clip of a caller complaining about something else!!!!
This partcular gripe page is probably the most nitpicky I have ever seen.
First, the caller was not "complaining." He was discussing. A complaint, IMHO, is something different. In addition, if this was a complaint, it was focused on Mr. O'Reilly personally, not on the show. Yes, there is a difference.
But that's not the real issue.
The real issue seems to be what Bill O'Reilly said, what he meant, and what this implies about his views.
Here's how I see it. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what he said. I understood his meaning perfectly, and found absolutely nothing even remotely racist in his words, intent, or self.
So why is everyone here getting their panties in a bunch?
Two reasons, I think. Either there is a blind and senseless hatred of Bill O'Reilly which colors (and invalidates) every anti-Bill opinion here, or there is a fundamental disconnect as to what constitutes racism and what the meaning of words, in context and with human intonation, are.
I'm not sure which option I hope is the truth.
Here is what I understood Mr. O'Reilly to have meant. He was not "surprised" that blacks dining in a black owned/operated restaurant are essentially just like white folks. He was commenting on the inescapable reality of the sameness, and contrasting that the the perverted image of black Americans which is created by the MSM, Hollywood, rappers, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and in general, race baiting poverty pimps in various positions of influence in society. His comments were a backhanded attack on those who would highlight differences and perpetuate negative stereotypes.
Could someone please explain how my view of this is mistaken? I am not an apologist for Mr. Bill, and I did not need to twist and contort to experience or explain this reaction. That is what I heard. That is what I understood him to mean. Where am I wrong here?
something i read....
Its my opinion that what Oreilly spouted was HIS opinion of surprise that blacks actually were smart enough to do what they had done with this restaurant, and that there is generally a low expectation of blacks. It is a perpetuation of these ideas that is harmful to ANY minority, not just blacks.
Dear people ...many in the African-American community are offended by O'Reilly's comments but don't have a way to voice their views...and some who think this is normal thinking for most of White Americans...who don't have a clue of Black people ...our culture or our contribution to this country...I am sometimes amazed the we know all about your history but the vast majority couldn't name name three Black persons of importance other than Sharpton or Jackson....O'reilly also insults our people with he's misleading statement about the marriage/birth rate in the African-American community...without taking into consideration that many women are having babies without a husband by choice or that many in the Black community live together without being married and still raise their children...the way he makes he's statement is that 70% of the Black community is on the brink of total melt down ...that everyone lives in the ghetto ...are drug takers...don't work or hold down jobs...we are Mothers Fathers sisters and brothers ...we work pay taxes and obey the laws of the land ...we own homes send our children to school.... the small percentage of Black people who are dealing drugs or using and causing crime DO NOT represent the African-American community nor do Twista or snoop dog.
Sojourner Truth, Eli Whitney, harriet tubbman,
and oh yeah, my granddaughter.....
Hope you send your great comments to FOX XMRBX!
Is this the guy blo'reilly called "an idiot"? Or was it the other guy who called and took blo'reilly to task for his ignorant comments?
enough of this hate speech, the belittling of others and their beliefs and opinions. fox needs to replace blo'reilly with a voice of reason and compassion ... the o'coulter factor?