26
Sep
Memo to O’Reilly: MF-er, Just Shut the F Up!
If he weren’t such a ridiculous, pathetic oaf, I’d invite Bill O’Reilly up to my “hood” for a little white-on-white bonding, re-education and diversity training — if he weren’t afraid to set foot in it! It would obviously surprise, and perhaps even frighten the Man Who Wouldn’t Shut Up, to learn that I now live in Harlem — along with many other white people, not to mention a wide and growing assortment of Asians, Hispanics, Arabs, African-Americans and all the rest of what makes Manhattan such a vibrant, interesting and exciting place to live and work. Apparently O’Reilly, trapped back in time as well as in his suburban cocoon and Fox bunker, hasn’t noticed any of the ongoing changes in Harlem – or for that matter the rest of America – that have taken place since he and I attended the same very Catholic, very strict and very segregated college prep school in lily-white Long Island back in the Sixties.
Back then there was only one skinny little black kid in the class — and he was regularly brutalized by the hulking football players. Given that racist background – and given the further fact that he obviously hasn’t progressed much since then – it comes as no surprise that O’Reilly recently expressed his surprise that “there was no difference” between Sylvia’s, a world-famous Harlem restaurant, and other restaurants in New York. “I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patron ship,” the amazed talkmeister told his national audience of millions.
This latest in a depressingly long series of O’Reilly racial dustups began last week on his syndicated radio program, while he was discussing a recent dinner he had enjoyed at Sylvia’s with his new pal Al Sharpton. O’Reilly told his audience he “had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful.” (For Bill, it’s somehow always ALL about him!) He added, “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 patron ship.”
Later, while talking with Fox News contributor (and National Public Radio senior correspondent) Juan Williams, O’Reilly further exposed his cosseted ignorance, saying, “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘MF-er, I want more iced tea.’ 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.”
Just imagine – those crazy MF-ers in Harlem “ordering and having fun” just like they do in Italian restaurants in the “all-white” suburbs that O’Reilly STILL inhabits! What will they think of next — donning leisure suits? (Frankly, the only crazy people I’ve ever heard yelling obscenities in New York restaurants were O’Reilly’s Fox fellow travelers screaming for more booze in Langan’s, the Irish pub they hang out in near their Sixth Avenue headquarters…)
The racist ranter then compounded his idiocy by noting, “I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves. They’re getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They’re just trying to figure it out. ‘Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it.’”
As noted above, this embarrassing outburst is far from the first time O’Reilly has made provocative statements about race. (See Media Matters for America for documentation.) But here are a few past lowlights:
• During the February 5 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, in a conversation about President Bush’s description of Barack Obama as “articulate,” O’Reilly told a Temple University professor: “Instead of black and white Americans coming together, white Americans are terrified. They’re terrified. Now we can’t even say you’re articulate? We can’t even give you guys compliments because they may be taken as condescension?”
• On the August 16, 2006, edition of The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly called for “profiling of Muslims” at airports, arguing that detaining all “Muslims between the ages of 16 and 45″ for questioning “isn’t racial profiling,” but “criminal profiling.”
• In a February 27, 2006, conversation with a caller about the disproportionately few jobs and contracts that have gone to locals in the rebuilding of New Orleans, O’Reilly said: “[T]he homies, you know… I mean, they’re just not going to get the job.”
• On the September 13, 2005, broadcast of The Radio Factor, O’Reilly claimed that “many of the poor in New Orleans” did not evacuate the city before Hurricane Katrina because “[t]hey were drug-addicted” and “weren’t going to get turned off from their source,” adding, “They were thugs.”
On the recent (September 19) edition of O’Reilly’s Westwood One program ‘The Radio Factor,’ the white bread, all-white-suburb-inhabiting race man once again opined with false authority about ‘black people’ whom he clearly has little-to-no contact with. Here’s part of the transcript:
O’REILLY: Now, how do we get to this point? Black people in this country understand that they’ve had a very, very tough go of it, and some of them can get past that, and some of them cannot…. So it’s there. It’s there, and I think it’s getting better. I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves. They’re getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and the people trying to lead them into a race-based culture….
Then, after trashing Sharpton, the two-faced O’Reilly turns around and praises him as “a very, very interesting guy.”
O’REILLY: You know, I was up in Harlem a few weeks ago, and I actually had dinner with Al Sharpton, who is a very, very interesting guy. And he comes on The Factor a lot, and then I treated him to dinner, because he’s made himself available to us, and I felt that I wanted to take him up there. And we 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….
Fat chance! Ain’t nobody in Harlem watching this guy unless they want to know when to duck… but Bill’s ego, like his ignorance, apparently knows no bounds. Is it at all possible, one wonders, that O’Reilly can’t “get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City” because he hardly ever meets or talks with anyone outside the narrow little world his narrow little mind is exposed to during his daily commute from Long Island’s North shore to 1211 Avenue of the Americas?? “I mean, it was exactly the same,” O’Reilly said with evident wonder. “Even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patron ship. It was the same….”
Fancy that - “those people” are capable of being just like “us!” Amazing! All you can add is “God Bless America,” because after all, “That’s really what this society’s all about now here in the U.S.A.” To the newly-and-self-anointed Soul Brother Number Two, “There’s no difference. There’s no difference. There may be a cultural entertainment — people may gravitate toward different cultural entertainment, but you go down to Little Italy, and you’re gonna have that. It has nothing to do with the color of anybody’s skin.”
Incredibly, O’Reilly somehow stopped short of repeating the old saw that some of his best friends are black (even his most loyal listener would never believe that!) although he did add, “I like that soul food…. It was great.”
I’ll tell you what would really be great – if Bill O’Reilly just took his ill-gotten gains and retired to his North Shore estate tomorrow. Instead, he blathers on…and on. Not only do blacks not yell obscenities at the wait staff, we learn they also can dress well. Some even go so far as to wear tuxedos!
O’REILLY: You know, and I went to the concert by Anita Baker at Radio City Music Hall, and the crowd was 50/50, black/white, and the blacks were well-dressed…. The band was excellent, but they were dressed in tuxedoes, and this is what white America doesn’t know, particularly people who don’t have a lot of interaction with black Americans. They think that the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg.
Would that it were! Instead the culture is still dominated by dumb-ass, ignorant old white farts like Bill O’Reilly, spouting bromides from the Fifties while we’re busy going to hell in a hand basket. So here’s an open offer to my fellow Flyer from Chaminade High – come on up to MY neighborhood sometime soon, get educated, and join the rest of us in the Twenty-First Century!
Either that or just shut the F up, you silly MF-er!
So O’reilly is short sighted. You don’t sound any better. Everytime a white person tries to express something to blacks they have to make a big deal out of it. Have you heard yourself lately…bitter racist. See how you ranted over a natural mistake that is often made…mighty white of you. This might have been the first time that O’Reilly dined in this fashion. By his comments he has heard things about the behavior of some blacks. You don’t know how to talk about white people either. All you want to do is attack and attack some more. White people are not your enemy. It is YOU within and your negative attitude. O’Reilly didn’t know those were the classic words that blacks don’t want to hear. Blacks and Whites don’t need to get in bed with each other to get along. A little respect and tolerance is needed from both.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:23 pmWOW!! O’Lielly is a total embarrassment. I can’t believe that anybody thinks he has anything credible to say. Oh, that’s right, FOX watching morons do.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:36 pmYou know…it’s amazing how people can find a way to defend a guy like Bill O’Reilly. First of all, the guy is well-paid for his racist sentiments…that’s why Fox employes him and why he is a representative for the Republican juggernaut. They transit in veiled and not so veiled racism against minorities. This isn’t about black people being sensitive…I’d love to see any white person who thinks that all we need is time to heal the wounds between the races live, work, and exist in an all black environemnt for ten years and then tell me how sensitve black are about race and racist comments.
September 26th, 2007 at 3:09 pmThe oh so very sad thing is that many white people feel that they can hold onto their legacy as the white guys in chrage because of people like O’Reilly and the Bush Group and one day they’ll wake-up and realize that there way of life was sold off to foreigners by the white guys in charge!
O’Reilly and his brand of offensiveness doesn’t deserve comment! He’s laughing all the way to the bank!
O’Reily is a jerk dirt bag.
September 26th, 2007 at 3:41 pmI don’t go to different restaurants because they are all alike. I go to different restraunts because I enjoy different and ethnic backgrounds of the way they cook and serve up the food and because of the different atmosphere. His whole opening statment was a big stupid racist slap in the face. It’s like talking to an African American and trying to make a point saying “I have a black friend.”
Great job.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:04 pmWhen I was a child people like O’Reilly would say to and about blacks, “You (S/he is) are a credit to your race”, in the same unconsciously racist manner and tone that the Fox Ignoramus phrased his remarks, without realizing how patronizing they were being. Clearly Mr. O’Reilly lives in a bubble where he things his most appallingly condescending words are true compliments. Americans like him embarrass and sadden me no end.
JTL
September 26th, 2007 at 4:39 pmAs a white person of some Irish heritage, and a truly patriotic American who believes the rights guaranteed to ALL of us by the Constitution, I can say with relative certainty that most decent hardworking Americans find Bill O’Reilly AND his schtick to be an embarrassment. I would also add that poor Hazel, who is likely some dumb redneck hick from Kentucky whose uncle is also her son in law, is not very good at reading comprehension, or she might have picked up on the fact that the author of the article was NOT the one lone black guy attending O’Reilly’s school. The pathetic Hazels of the world are not the ones who are going to be our undoing. All that
September 26th, 2007 at 4:45 pmyammering back and forth between both sides is distracting everyone from the REAL problelms this country is facing. Healthcare, corporate malfeasance, poor educational opportunities, a trumped up war, and people paying more attention to Britney Spears’ activities than those of their own offspring only scratch the surface of what we are ignoring in this society while the silly infighting continues. We are no better than the Shiites and Sunnis ourselves.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:00 pmSadly, the first thing I encounter in this article is O’Conner crowing about his discovery of Harlem as valuable real estate for he and his white buddies to gentrify. After all, it’s an outrage to leave all those Manhattan brownstones in the hands of the help.
I’m sorry to be a poop, but I don’t remember Harlem as ever being described as vacancy-prone, so I gather that some black folk will have to leave their hometown to make room for every Rory O’Conner that turns up with the adequate cash. Is there no Starbucks near Sylvia’s? There will be.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:37 pmJuan Williams condemed the story about what O’Reilly was supposed to have said. He even said that had he not been there, heard what was said, and then listened to CNN and the Times, he’d be angry. Well, he is angry because Williams says that everything was taken out of context to make O’Reilly look like a racist. How convenient and typical. The spin from the left is character assassination and death to the truth. For the illiterate here, Juan Williams is black and often butts heads with O’Reilly. The major difference here is that Williams tells the truth, CNN and other liberal crappers spin it out of all belief.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:33 pmOh, bye the way … good taste and vocabulary. Your language is proof positive that you don’t have the class or brains to figure out much of anything.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:36 pmYes, a little respect and tollerence can go a long way in helping people get a long. But don’t forget to be appreciative when others point out your prejudices.
Perhaps EC Lewis can use his/her class and brains to find the prejudice in this “out of context” quote: “The spin from the left is character assassination and death to the truth.”
Prejudice
September 27th, 2007 at 4:38 am2 a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics Merriam-Webster’s On-line Dictionary
I don’t usually read stuff like this but I’ll tell you what I came away with after reading this one.
Most of the replies in support of the author used foul language of insults and tended to inflame the subject. Most of the opponents tended to calm the subject.
If statements on this subject were taken in the best way instead of the worst way, race relations would improve rapidly.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:26 amWell if this isn’t the crown jewel of garbage , I don’t want to read it Rory you are a case man. Foul and demeaning you can shout from the rooftops but don’t tolerate any disagreement with you what so ever or it’s time to !@#$%^&*() all in the area , what closed mind.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:21 amJon
EC Lewis, like Hazel still believe that Iraqis were on the plan 6 years ago. Character assasination began with OlieLy’s statement. As far as Juan Williams being black, so is Clarence Thomas Both living in worlds where they have no respect from their own race, this because they’ve chosen to sell their interests out at every opportunity as to continue to amass the almighty dollar, that and the insanity that makes you think that they would’ve spared you during this country’s more oprressive times toward our people. I as a black man and restaurant owner am offended that Oliely would be so amazed that the occasional Black person who happens to come into my 95% white restaurant would be so civilized as to consume his vittles with a fork and wipe his mouth with a napkin. But then, what do you expect from a person who looks up to an absolute moron like bush and his destructive cronies as “the adults”.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:09 amHazel:
why defend the indefensible? o’racist should know better than to make those disrespectful comments. his ignorance is basically saying that he’s suprised that minorities could actually do things differently from what his shelterd brain thought they did. BTW - tolerance means you really don’t understand something or someone - you just ignore it enough to put up with it. THAT sounds as racist, homophobic and xenophobic as anything o’reilly has said.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:52 amHEY HAZEL don’t you worry your pretty little head about this O’Really thing. Papa O has it under control. Jest you go now an fetch him a cuppa coffee and Daddy will make it all better.
To those of you living in REALITY…
September 27th, 2007 at 1:03 pmPAPA O’RACIST is an embarassment to his family, his neighborhood, and his race. He was as surprized as anyone when “them black folk walked and talked just like they was people”
PAID TO BE LOUD…
AND HE BETTER BE DAMN WELL PAID WHEN HE LOOKS BACK AT HIS LIFE AND REALIZES THAT IT HAS ALL BEEN ABOUT PROSTITUTING HIS ABILITY TO SPEAK — A SMALL HANDFUL OF SILVER FOR HIS IMMORAL SOUL.
The big difference, and it is significant, between O’Reilly’s recent ramble about Sylvia’s, etc. and Imus’s comment about the championship college basketball players is that O’Reilly thought he was being complimentary. Imus was anything but. I know it doesn’t feel complimentary, coming as it does from this racist’s perspective, but O’Reilly was trying. That’s what we all need to keep on doing, trying harder and showing some forgiveness when it doesn’t come out right.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:23 amI wonder how many people who are attacking O’Reilly actually saw the show that is being commented upon. I didn’t see the show and don’t like O’Reilly but find it hard to believe. I know that the media likes to take anything a “conservative” says and spin it totally out of context. I also find it interesting when people try to paint all conservatives and republicans in the same box with O’Reilly. I’m a conservative and a Republican and think the guy is a complete blowhard. I don’t listen to him or like him. And he is definitely not conservative.
September 29th, 2007 at 2:27 pmI agree with tamahone (above). The most noatable generality of the comments here is the cursing, name calling, arrogance and overall downright meanness of the people who seem to take the quotes (without knowing the context) as gospel. I’m sorry, but what I see here is a lot of people looking for an excuse to hate. If you really want something to hate, check out some of the lyrics in today’s rap music. Some of the lines in rap music are racist to the point of making the KKK (a TRULY racist group) seem like a gathering of the Mickey Mouse club. Choose your battles better, people.
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:30 amOreilly is a typical robot.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:46 pmI’ve had this recurrent dream recently in which I chase O’Reilly around with a big rake. When he feels safe he turns around and postures a bunch and says things like “it appears that the shoe is on the other foot.” And then I always catch up to him and smack him in the face with the rake. Not a bad dream at all. But is it just as good and pure and simple as it seems???
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November 21st, 2007 at 3:07 am.
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“MF-er, Just Shut the F Up!”
Wow. How clever you are.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:25 am