Media Matters for America, September 26, 2007

CNN's Sanchez: O'Reilly "screamed at the top of his lungs for a very long period of time"

Bill O'Reilly stated that CNN has gone "over to the dark side" for its coverage of O'Reilly's recent statement that he was surprised "there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City ... even though it's run by blacks." O'Reilly said he "talked to CNN last night" before the controversy was discussed on CNN's Out in the Open and "explained the deal." He added, "They went ahead with the racist angle anyway." Out in the Open host Rick Sanchez responded to O'Reilly's assertion: "Never once did we utter the word 'racist' in relation to Bill O'Reilly," adding that O'Reilly "screamed at the top of his lungs for a very long period of time." Read more

Sylvia's family spokesperson reportedly found O'Reilly comments "offensive to the black culture"

According to reports by several media outlets, a family spokesperson for Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem said that comments made by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on the September 19 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program were "[o]ne of the worst stereotypes ever of our customers, of our people," "extremely insensitive," and "outrageous." Describing dinner with the Rev. Al Sharpton at the restaurant, O'Reilly said: "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. It was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." Read more

O'Reilly attacked Media Matters with falsehood about whether he received complaint

In defending his controversial comments about race, Bill O'Reilly claimed that "we didn't hear one complaint about the program that ran on more than 400 radio stations." Similarly, an Associated Press article stated that "O'Reilly said the [Juan] Williams conversation was carried on more than 400 radio stations and there wasn't one complaint from a listener." In fact, during the same broadcast in which O'Reilly made his controversial remarks, a caller told O'Reilly: "I think your spinning and bloviating does not do the black community justice. You're just giving fodder to your viewers who have a negative view of black people anyway, so your pointing out a couple of [rappers] Twistas and Ludacrises in the large general population is shameful."Read more

Media Matters' Waldman: "[I]f Bill O'Reilly got caught robbing a bank he would say he was taken out of context"


Media Matters for America Senior Fellow Paul Waldman appeared on the September 26 edition of NBC's Today show to discuss the controversy generated by comments made recently by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly---and documented by Media Matters---following his visit to a Harlem restaurant. Read more