O'Reilly's Rant Wasn't His Imus Moment

Comments were old-fashioned, sheltered—not racist, says Times blogger

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 26, 2007 9:44 AM CDT

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O'Reilly's Rant Wasn't His Imus Moment — Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly appears on the Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor," on Jan. 18, 2007 in New York. After eating dinner at a famed Harlem restaurant recently, O'Reilly started a controversy after he told a radio audience he "couldn't get over the fact" that there was no difference... (Associated Press)

The firestorm over Bill O'Reilly's statement that a Harlem restaurant was "exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks" may be overblown, writes New York Times blogger Mike Nizza. While liberal groups are gleefuly taking aim, Nizza says the conservative pundit was recounting a conversion and guilty of no more than being a sheltered white guy.

Later on the same show, O'Reilly continued: "This is what white America doesn’t know. They think that the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg." But given full context, Nizza writes, this is no Imus moment. Stay tuned tonight when O'Reilly appears on Fox News with none other than Al Sharpton. (More Bill O'Reilly stories.)

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