Fox News host Bill O’Reilly late Monday accused Oprah Winfrey of playing the race card when referring to the level of respect President Obama receives.
Winfrey said recently in a BBC interview that Obama is disrespected because of his African-American heritage. O’Reilly refuted her claim, and said there is no evidence to back it.
“Oprah is making an excuse for President Obama by using race,” he said. “I submit that Oprah Winfrey and others who play the race card can’t back up their statements with any facts.”
{mosads}The “O’Reilly Factor” host said former Presidents George W. Bush and John F. Kennedy received far more hate than Obama because of their religion. Bush is a Protestant and Kennedy was a Roman Catholic.
O’Reilly said Winfrey ignored the issue of religion when she made her comment and that she declined to appear on O’Reilly’s show to talk with him about it.
O’Reilly admitted that Obama has dealt with racism, but on a minuscule scale.
“We know that some Americans do despise Barack Obama because of his skin color,” he said. “There will always be bigots. But the number is insignificant.”
He added that Obama largely deals with criticism because of his policies, not because of his race.
“The president wants to impose a big government, income redistribution situation,” O’Reilly said. “Many Americans like me believe that will weaken the country.”