SHADMIA's WORLD

Bill O'Reilly has been under a lot of pressure from the media since his controversial remarks about black people. Listen to part of what was said here: [audio http://clips.mediamatters.org/static/audio/oreilly-20070919-race.mp3]

Many have taken issue with the following quote from his show:

Discussing his recent dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at the Harlem restaurant Sylvia's, Bill O'Reilly reported that 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.' "

The main criticism is that Bill O'Reilly, in attempting to explain how Blacks behaved at this restaurant, implied that this was abnormal behavior for Blacks and he showed his ignorance of Black society outside the stereotypical images portrayed by certain Rap artists. In other words it really showed how out of touch he was with the diversity of the Black community and in the process inadvertently offended a lot of people. Below is a CNN clip that questioned his motives and attempted to expose either his ignorance or latent racism.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HChTI8jy8fM]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDhxH68YVis]

Bill O'Reilly, in attempting to refute criticism leveled at him, invited the Rev. Jesse Jackson on his show. It did not go exactly the way Bill had hoped it would. He was looking for support from Jackson but that is not what happened.

Part 1

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoxt2ioGC88]

Part 2

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkFTJNd5XGA]

He did however find some sympathy in an interview with Juan Williams

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzrBrFFyiek]

Even Bill Maher had something to say about the incident. What is life without a little comedy!!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0JUkxWrIFM]