No one is safe these days.
Bill O’Reilly is definitely a polarizing figure in the media these days – it feels like you either love him or hate him for his brash and in-your-face style.
[ Related: Bill O’Reilly Does Not Like The Love That Jon Stewart Is Getting Over His Retirement! ]
But the Fox News host is feeling a different type of heat these days as a report has come out questioning Bill’s claim that he was in a “war zone” during the 1982 Falklands war.
The Mother Jones report says Bill’s story makes no sense because no American journalist was allowed there at that time.
The report claims that this could not have been a one-time mistake as he has repeated it many times:
“He has often invoked this experience to emphasize that he understands war as only someone who has witnessed it could.”
The report also questioned O’Reilly’s claims of the violence he saw in the Buenos Aires streets during protests after the Argentines surrendered back then as “at odds with news reports from the time.”
However, unlike Brian Williams, Bill O’Reilly is on the defensive against these possibly damaging allegations!
[ Related: Brian Williams Suspended For 6 Months Without Pay From NBC Nightly News! ]
The television host has since responded to the Mother Jones report, saying:
“Everything I’ve said about my career is 100% accurate. I never said I was on the Falkland Islands ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ nobody was. I said I covered the Falklands war, which we all did from Argentina and Uruguay, and I was in both places. There was a combat situation when the Argentines surrendered and thousands of people stormed the president’s palace. The dictator [Leopoldo] Galtieri was trying to kill him. Argentine troops fired into the crowd. I was right in the middle of it.”
David Corn, the author of the Mother Jones piece, says he asked Fox and Bill if they had any response BEFORE publishing the article, but they did not respond to him. Bill O’Reilly explained:
“I’m not going to speak to a guttersnipe like that, and if he wants to put lies out like that I’ll counter and disclaim. I want people to know what a liar he is.”
Here’s what Corn had to say about that response:
“To me, the issue here is whether a media figure and journalist like Bill O’Reilly, who claims to be a truth teller, can get away without answering questions about specific statements he’s made, and hide behind name calling. I would encourage anyone else who covers this story to get Bill O’Reilly to answer those questions — if not to me, than to anyone else.”
Bill O’Reilly was initially VERY upset with Brian Williams after the allegations came out that he wasn’t telling the truth, but later seemed to be dismayed at how hard the media was coming down on the suspended newsman.
Maybe he’s hoping the same type of punishment doesn’t happen to him?
Although we doubt Bill would get suspended even for a day from Fox as he’s WAY too valuable for the cable news channel.
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