On the September 26 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, during a discussion of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's controversial comments about a recent trip to Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, co-host Brian Kilmeade said O'Reilly's remarks have “been blown out of proportion by a group called Media Matters,” while co-host Steve Doocy asserted, “I was on The O'Reilly Factor last night doing the 'Culture Quiz,' and he [O'Reilly] told this story about how ... they're on this personal jihad, it seems, CNN and Media Matters, to destroy Bill O'Reilly.” Doocy then characterized O'Reilly's comments as follows: “Look, I went up to Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem here in Manhattan and it was fantastic. ...There was no inappropriate language.” In fact, as Media Matters for America documented, during the September 19 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, O'Reilly said, “I 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 went on to say, “There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' ”

From the September 26 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

KILMEADE: A little bit of controversy on The O'Reilly Factor. Not really if -- on The Radio Factor, I should say -- not really if you listen to it, but it's been blown out of proportion by a group called Media Matters, which they say their mission statement is a 501(c), a nonprofit organization, to report on what's going on in the news and essentially keep the journalists on the straight and narrow. However, they have a little tendency to only watch us.

DOOCY: Yeah. So, last night on The O'Reilly Factor, on the TV show, Bill O'Reilly said that, not only Media Matters, which is a far-left outfit, but also CNN -- Bill says they're out to get him and try to bring down Fox News, as well, because they're stirring up these false accusations, Bill O'Reilly says, for ratings.

And you know what, I was on The O'Reilly Factor last night doing the “Culture Quiz,” and he told this story about how they have -- they're on this personal jihad, it seems, CNN and Media Matters, to destroy Bill O'Reilly. And it goes back to something that he said on a radio show not long ago, where he was talking about race relations in this country.

And he talked about his grandmother -- or rather his mother -- and just her perception of black people back in the day -- and, you know, he's the culture warrior now -- and in our culture, if you listen to gangster rap and Ludacris and Twista, and all those people, you would think that every other word in that community is a dirty one. And O'Reilly was saying, “Look, I went up to Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem here in Manhattan and it was fantastic.”

KILMEADE: In fact, Al Sharpton was --

DOOCY: “There was no inappropriate language.”

KILMEADE: Al Sharpton was on our show the next day, and he said, “You know, I took Bill O'Reilly up to Sylvia's and they treated him like a rock star,” and he, you know, he was -- couldn't believe it. And actually, Al Sharpton seemed surprised about the reception he got.

GLICK: Exactly. Al Sharpton was supportive of him, said he's gonna go back on his show --

KILMEADE: Tonight, I think.

GLICK: -- discuss it with him tonight. And I -- you know, this is all about context. I think --

DOOCY: Exactly right.

GLICK: -- this is a very important issue. You know, people now take clips, and then they put them in the context of another situation --

DOOCY: Sure.

GLICK: -- and then all of a sudden, you're guilty.

DOOCY: Right.

GLICK: And that's media today.

DOOCY: Well, it is, and so O'Reilly says if you want the full story, go listen to the radio show. It is at BillOreilly.com. Just one kind of embarrassing thing for CNN, last night they had a debate on this because they figured they'd stir the pot. One of the African-American guys they brought on to make Bill O'Reilly look bad said --

GLICK: Supported him.

DOOCY: “Bill O'Reilly was completely taken out of context.”

GLICK: Hmm-mm.

DOOCY: Yeah.

KILMEADE: So, anyway --

DOOCY: BillOreilly.com.

KILMEADE: -- Stephen A. Smith had something similar to say on another network --

O'REILLY [audio clip]: This is ridiculous.

KILMEADE: -- who is a very strong -- he's always talking about race relations. He's a very respected sportscaster and columnist. He said, “I have no problem with what Bill O'Reilly said,” but that's for another time.

DOOCY: All right, we report, you decide, as always.