September 27, 2007
O'Reilly Talks Sylvia's Incident With Sharpton
Bill O'Reilly continued to claim that he wasn't being racist when expressing his surprise that a dinner at Harlem soul food restaurant Sylvia's was extremely pleasant. Media watchdog group Media Matters distributed text and clips of O'Reilly's radio show where the conservative talking head explained, "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."
And when CNN's Rick Sanchez picked up the story, O'Reilly lashed out at both Media Matters and CNN and tried to stamp some of the fallout by having his Sylvia's dining partner, the Reverend Al Sharpton, on The O'Reilly Factor last night.
After first discussing the Jena 6 case, Sharpton said he hadn't heard the tape but "What I read was surprising and disturbing." Sharpton went onto say that his words had been distorted by the media before so "I will be as fair to you as you have been to me. I will listen to the tape, and I will give my judgment." He added that he and O'Reilly go to dinner in Harlem once a year and that O'Reilly has never said anything offensive. O'Reilly kept mentioning how he picked up the tab, but Sharpton said, "You should pick up the tab - you make more money!"
O'Reilly spoke to the Washington Post about the point he was trying to make:
"Anyone who listens to the tape [of the radio show] and is fair-minded will tell you this was an intelligent conversation about race.... Aren't they supposed to be in the business of honesty over there" at CNN?The NY Times says that Sylvia's president and CEO, H. Kenneth Woods, (son of restaurant founder Sylvia Woods), "seemed to take the publicity in stride": “I was surprised that after all these years in business he would have thought that he would’ve possibly seen something different. He’s welcome to come again.” But Assemblyman Keith Wright wondered, “In the year 2007, if he’s surprised that black folks can sit in a restaurant and have cordial conversations, where has he been all these years?”His point, he said, is that "some whites fear blacks based on irrational notions. They're afraid to go into Sylvia's, they're afraid to go to Harlem. But there's nothing different in Sylvia's than any other place in the U.S."
O'Reilly claims that the far left is conspiring against him, but maybe the far left is reaching so far that it's coming around for him: There may be a backlash to the backlash!
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woah. You mean Bill Oreilly is pissed because CNN did what FOXNEWS does all the Time? Distort the facts and cherrypick them until it sounds coherent? You don't like a taste of your own medicine? I've been waiting for CNN to act like FOX for a longass time. Finally.
O'Reilly was expecting to see men slap their women around and call them f***ing bitches. Oh, wait, that was Benefield in the story below, wasn't it? So he wasn't that far off.
As much as I hate O'Reilly, I don't think he did anything wrong. People who enjoy creating controversy for the sake of controversy should open up their eyes and see that this world is bad enough without adding problems that don't exist to the things we need to worry about.
#3 hit the nail on the head
I still don't get what all the fuss is about. As a female minority, I don't care for O'Reilly either but I was not offended or upset by what he said...
exactly, the blacks in the restaurant were so respectful, articulate and well spoken.
if you don't see what the fuss was, then you're the problem.
as I find females act irrational and hysterically
, how's that?
No his comments weren't racist. Not one major black-activist has come out against Bill O'Reilly. His comments seem racist without context, but many black activists are defending him and supporting his views. He was not perpetuating racist stereotypes .... he was trying to remove them through analogies.
Media Matters is not a media "watchdog group". That is like calling Moveon.org or SwiftboatVets a "watchdog group"..... all three of those (liberal and conservative) just smear individuals. They try to assign labels so people ignore them.
O'Reilly is racist .... John Kerry hates our military... blah blah blah
No his comments weren't racist. Not one major black-activist has come out against Bill O'Reilly. His comments seem racist without context, but many black activists are defending him and supporting his views. He was not perpetuating racist stereotypes .... he was trying to remove them through analogies.
Media Matters is not a media "watchdog group". That is like calling Moveon.org or SwiftboatVets a "watchdog group"..... all three of those (liberal and conservative) just smear individuals. They try to assign labels so people ignore them.
O'Reilly is racist .... John Kerry hates our military... blah blah blah
Sharpton's way more racist than O'Reilly, anyway.
The problem is that saying:
Seems to carry with it an implied:Loofah Bill is a victim of his own formula & recipe. I love it.
Pot calling the kettle...ahem...black?
#5 and #6, when will the black community finally realize that using the term "female" to describe a woman is sexist? Any species can be female. You are talking about WOMEN. Calling women "females" only reduces them to be identified by their genitalia and negates their humanity.
I mean I couldn't believe it wasn't like Popeye's or Roscoe's Chicken n' Waffles. When they told me it was in Harlem AND run by Blacks I could only assume that would be of lower quality, louder and a fast food joint. But no, it was actually like some other places in America.
he just said what many people secretly feel inside
JMH (& everyone else complaining about him) you are missing the point of his comments. Yes, his comment
does indeed result from the fact that he probably really was thinking: The point of his comment is an admission that his racist beliefs were wrong. He admitted his ignorance to his audience in an effort to get them to stop believing the worse about blacks as he once did. Of course, how do we react to someone finally seeing reality? We try to smear him. Way to go Media Matters! O'Reilly says plenty of other stupid things (lies) to call him on, there is no need for this lame attack.again, I thought I needed an anthropologist to help me order my BBQ dish. I needed help in making my clucking sounds. I was glad there were silverware on the table, I thought I would need to use my hands to eat.
I was shocked to see no grape soda on the menu.
#17- YOU are funny. Clucking sounds...hehehe.
Re: references to speach including pops and clicks.
The primary language of Swaziland is Siswati. It includes dental pops (denoted by "x" in written form) and clicks (usually "nc"). It may sound odd, but so does dutch and german to the unitiated.
The pathetic irony is that Al Sharpton is as ignorant and outdated as Bill O'Reilly is.
I have reviewed the tape. Clearly the man is a white supremacist.
Bill's the guy who says, "I'm not racist! I have a black friend!"
#17 LOL!
The point of his comment is an admission that his racist beliefs were wrong. He admitted his ignorance to his audience in an effort to get them to stop believing the worse about blacks as he once did.
You must not have heard the same stream of his ignorance that I did, zodak, because that's not what he was doing. His entire angry bit is about denying that he was ever racist. He has never admitted that anything he's said, thought or done was racist in any way. What the hell are you talking about?
of course he is denying being a racist, the man is a pathological liar. i guess you aren't a minority moneda or you would know that only a racist would be surprised by minorities behaving in a civilized manner. so he admitted it.
i also know that a racist who refuses to see reality would chalk it up to people "putting on a show" because of his presence & thinking that 'they would probably behave otherwise' were he not around.
instead, o'reilly saw what was going on & basically said 'maybe i was wrong for thinking blacks would behave like animals'. if we want racist people to come around we have to expect them to take baby-steps when their racist beliefs get challenged by their own eyes.
Actually, as world-wide figures go, I believe my brown skin makes me a part of the majority; but here in the U.S., yes, I am "a minority." Oh, and allowing racists to "take baby steps" in recognizing their ignorance only gives them more time to remain ignorant despite evidence of their beliefs being nonsense. I guess you're not "a minority" or you'd know that.