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NY Times

Fox’s Bill O’Reilly Under Fire Over Comment About Slaves

Jul 27, 2016  •  Post A Comment

Fox News mainstay Bill O’Reilly generated a torrent of backlash with comments he made after Michelle Obama mentioned at the Democratic National Convention that the White House was built by slaves.

The New York Times reports that O’Reilly said on the air Tuesday that those slaves were “well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government.”

“In a 90-second segment near the end of his show, Mr. O’Reilly delved into the history of the White House dating to George Washington’s selecting the site for it in 1791,” The Times reports. “Mr. O’Reilly, a conservative pundit and the author of historical books like ‘Killing Kennedy,’ appeared to be attempting to fact-check a statement the first lady made on Monday at the Democratic National Convention, calling her words ‘a positive comment’ and adding that ‘the history behind her remark is fascinating.’”

O’Reilly then said: “Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So, Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working, as well.”

“Twitter users seized on his comments, which were criticized as making light of the slaves’ treatment and regurgitating the antebellum view of the ‘happy’ or ‘content’ slave,” The Times reports.

Among the messages posted on Twitter, Shonda Rhimes wrote: “The idiocy never ceases to amaze me. Try slavery, Bill. Let us know how good the food is while you wear chains.”

o'reilly factor

4 Comments

  1. I always thought that Bill O’Reilly was a very well educated and I even read some of his books. My family used to watch his shows on Fox and were usually in agreement with what he said in some of his discussions. However, this latest comment has changed my opinion of him.

    I hope he isn’t trying to be like Mr. Trump, Thank God I am a Canadian and this is the best Country in the world. I am very dissapointed with him he claims he is Irish and a Roman Catholic. He should be ashamed of himself !

  2. Remembering the old saying: “There is no such thing as “bad press.” O’Reilly is one of those who will take, (and create), any kind of press just to keep himself in the news. He’s too smart not to know that saying what he said would lead to controversy and good-bad press.

    Some day it will be his undoing…maybe today?

  3. Well, what Rupert’s reaction?

    Exactly.

    dL

  4. According to the above article, O’Reilly said, “O’Reilly then said: “Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So, Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working, as well.”

    O’Reilly agreed with O’bama in citing slaves as builders of the White House. And, as a historian, he said they were well fed and had decent lodging. Shondra Rhimes comment is “mis-guided” at best. There was no “idiocy’ in O’Reilly’s comments, only in her tweet. If she had studied history like O’Reilly, she would have understood that for the time the workers, both slaves and non-slaves, were well fed and had decent lodging. He was in no way saying slavery in any form is to be condoned, but for that time the slaves were well fed and had decent housing. There were many other slaves that were not so fortunate. O’Reilly deserves an apology but I doubt if it will ever happen.

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