And we just love this story! It's about Bill O'Reilly, race, talk radio... and meat loaf.
Liberal watchsite Media Matters is reporting about The Big Fat Head (KTTH m-f, 9-11p) shooting his big fat mouth off on the radio last Wednesday.
Relating a recent dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's, a classic Harlem soul food restaurant, O'Reilly told listeners he "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 added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' "
O'Reilly (whose silly name is Lumpy Burgerbrains) reportedly passed up the falafel, choosing the meatloaf instead.
O' Reilly's radio remarks, made to NPR/Fox News commentator Juan Williams, were in one of his signature lectures about how white people stereotype blacks because of rap culture. He was genuinely surprised seeing nice black people acting so civilized in a restaurant proving to him that all African Americans were not like Ludicris, Twista, and Snoop Dogg- an opinion, apparently, he'd previously entertained.
(Could that be because night after night on The O'Reilly Factor, the black people mostly featured are the extremest of rappers, the thuggiest of athletes; their excesses and legal troubles???)
In a golly-gee-whiz moment heard via CNN 'round the world he said:
"You know, I mean, everybody was- it was like going into an Italian
restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting
there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind
of craziness at all." (or watermelons, we might add).
Patronizingly, he declared that black people are ‘starting’ to think for themselves. "They're getting away from the Sharptons and the [Rev. Jesse] Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They're just trying to figure it out. 'Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it."
It wasn't the hate-filled kind of racism, it was dumb, numb, condescending and sooooo 1961.
Here's the whole transcript. Judge for yourself if O'Reilly is being quoted out of context as he claims.
It's what you'd expect from an Iowa farm boy who'd just met his first Negro. It's stunningly ignorant that a man his age (58), a veteran newsman- supposedly a savvy guy who's lived all over the country, and works in New York City media should be so unconscious that he utter such things. It's crazy even for Billo.
Maybe he, always the teacher, thinks his graying listeners need to learn the lesson they should have 40 years ago. If that were the case, you'd think he'd present blacks in a better light in the day in/day out of his show, wouldnya?
(O'Reilly's audience are his own age: younger people aren't buying his kind of know-it all, lecturing, and scolding).
And of course, he blames the media- he spent the first quarter of his show Monday on the offense against CNN, NBC and Media Matters.
Will this be O'Reilly's Don Imus moment?
Pugetsound, duffman and What Tit need to see their names in print in order to feel important, judging by the number of times they post on here.
Posted by: whatshit | September 27, 2007 at 05:11 PM
I was hoping this would spell the downfall of Billo. Incredibly, high profile black guys like Juan Williams, Steven A Smith, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have publicly defended O'Reilly. Just when I thought we had him by the scrotum, Billo Reilly escapes again.
Posted by: bobo | September 27, 2007 at 08:56 PM
Marvin Kitman revealed that O'Reilly makes $50 million/yr. I had no idea anybody could get that rich from hosting a cable talkshow.
Posted by: bobo | September 27, 2007 at 09:00 PM
Racism comment - no
condesending - yes.
At least he doesn't toot his own horn like Rush - "with half my brain tied behind my back"
Posted by: stevo | September 27, 2007 at 09:05 PM
50 million a year? He doesn't have to work, which means he must actualy believe he's the American Hero that Colbert portrays him as. He's like a caricature of himself.
Posted by: Andrew | September 27, 2007 at 10:58 PM
I see that BillO' had a good night Tuesday. He had 2,418,000 total viewers with 582,000 in the 25-54 demo. That just shows that BillO' is on his way out. That means that O'Reilly had more viewers in the demo group than Olberman or CNN had total viewers.
Yep, BillO' is slipping.
Posted by: chucks | October 11, 2007 at 05:04 PM
Let's examine those impressive numbers a little closer chucks! If about 500K are in the 25-54 demo, that means the other 2million are old farts! Eventually they will start dying off and then.....Bill needs to write more of those morality books for kids to keep his audience vital. ( "Put down that pipe baby, and come get my pipe up"...from billo's last novel)
Posted by: sparky | October 11, 2007 at 05:34 PM
Hey sparky
I just fell out of that demo in July. Guess that makes me an old fart. LOL, but Gramps lived to be 99 and my dad is 85 and still kickin'. I think I still have a little time yet.
I just felt the need to share a little fun fact.
Posted by: chucks | October 11, 2007 at 05:44 PM
hah!..I knew you would enjoy my statistics :-) I hope you are around for a long time, chucks.
Posted by: sparky | October 11, 2007 at 05:52 PM