…but apparently it was Bill O’Reilly being himself. It caused Political Columnist Joe Klein* to ask on Time.com “Are we sure it wasn’t Colbert?” but he decides “Even Stephen couldn’t come up with this.”
What’s “this”? Talking Points Memo explains:
O’Reilly amazed by civility in Harlem restaurant
At a minimum, I can’t help but think Bill O’Reilly needs to get out more. He explained the other day, on the air, that he and Al Sharpton had dinner together in Harlem, and O’Reilly was amazed by what he found. Regrettably, he wasn’t talking about the food.
“[W]e went to Sylvia’s, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful. They all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like a big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice.
“And 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.”
On the same program, O’Reilly was describing his experience to NPR’s Juan Williams. “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea,’” O’Reilly said, adding, “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.”
It might not have been quite so offensive if O’Reilly didn’t sound so surprised.
Unfortunately this was on his radio program so we won’t find video of Juan Williams’ reaction. Media Matters has the transcript.
*Joe Klein, columnist for Time Magazine who was bumped as a guest from the Colbert Report when Stephen had his cast removed on August 23rd. We await his appearance, announced to happen sometime this month. Joe is not to be confused with New York City Public School Commissioner Joel Klein who did appear as a guest earlier this month.
No. Bleeping. Way.
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that is just so utterly ridiculous i can’t quite believe it!
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OMG Bill-O is such a tool. You can bet the TCR writers are mulling over this one right now! I wonder what Stephen will choose to do w/ this? The mind boggles.
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sometimes i wonder if O’Reilly is actually a double agent trying to make conservatives look bad…
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You know it’s not a Colbert parody because Stephen doesn’t see color.
Papa Bear’s viewers, on the other hand, were likely as shocked as he was that black people could behave themselves in a nice restaurant.
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Just when I begin to think that O’Reilly might be putting on an elaborate act he totally destroys that idea with something like this. What an complete jackass.
Plus side: At this rate, Stephen will be rich in comic material from this guy for many years to come.
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“I couldn’t believe it! I walked into the restaurant and nobody popped a cap in my a**!”
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Wow.
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It must be very hard for the writers of TCR to parody Bill-O; he’s like a larger-than-life real-time parody of a human being, all by himself.
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Wow.. that doesn’t make BO sound racsist at all..
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