In an interview with Fox News chief Roger Ailes, Howard Kurtz asked about Fox host Bill O'Reilly's “recent crack...that seemed to envision a violent end for Dana Milbank.” O'Reilly had repeatedly joked about Milbank's beheading, jokes to which Milbank took offense. Kurtz reported:

“Does Sharia law say we can behead Dana Milbank?” O'Reilly asked his colleagueMegyn Kelly. He added: “That was a joke for you Media Matters people out there.”Milbank wrote a follow-up column objecting to the violent imagery, saying he was a friend of Daniel Pearl, who was murdered in that fashion in Pakistan. O'Reilly then accused the reporter of casting a bit of humor as a serious threat.

So should O'Reilly be joshing about beheading Milbank?

Ailes couldn't resist: “Well, I would have cut a little lower.”

He quickly got serious: “No, he shouldn't joke about beheading... Bill knows he probably shouldn't have said it. He just shot off his mouth.”