New York – Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly really needs to get out more.
After sitting down to eat coconut shrimp at Harlem’s most famous soul food restaurant with the Rev. Al Sharpton, the talk show host told his radio listeners he was surprised that Sylvia’s was a perfectly normal, civilized restaurant.
“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 (and has a) primarily black patronship,” O’Reilly said. “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea!’
“It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people (who) were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all,” he said.
O’Reilly was apparently trying to say that not all black people are into profane gangsta rap culture.
The comments, made in an hour-long show about race last Wednesday and then publicized by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters, prompted jeers, outrage and guffaws Tuesday.
“It is very insulting,” said restaurant manager Trenness Woods-Black, granddaughter of the famous Sylvia Woods.
“O’Reilly’s knowledge about the African-American community is limited, and his statements are outrageous and unfortunate.”
O’Reilly insisted on “The O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday night his remarks were meant to show that “there was no difference” between whites and blacks and “stereotypes are not true.”
He branded CNN and Media Matters, which monitors “conservative misinformation in the U.S. media,” as “smear merchants” for reporting the story. CNN, he opined, is “out to destroy me and Fox News” to protect its ratings.
Sharpton said he and O’Reilly have eaten together in Harlem before and he was surprised at the radio comments.
“I understand he says he’s been taken out of context. I’ll be going on his show, and I want to talk directly with him,” Sharpton said.
During a show Sept. 19, O’Reilly decried rap music and hip-hop culture. He also said he’d been to a concert at Radio City Music Hall and noted that “the blacks were well-dressed.”
“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,” he said.
Media Matters spokesman Eric Burns said he expected O’Reilly to claim to have been victimized.
Sylvia’s managers weren’t too surprised, either.
“It’s commonplace for O’Reilly. It’s his position and overview of the world,” said Kenneth Woods, Sylvia’s grandson.
Herbert and Sylvia Woods opened their soul food restaurant in 1962 in a storefront with room for 35 people. Today, the restaurant occupies most of a city block and attracts tourists from all over.
Restaurant host William Lessenberry said he was mostly amused. “He had his idea of what a soul food restaurant was like and now he’s got a different view,” he said. “I could only laugh.”
