Why Did The Today Show Give Bill O'Reilly A Free Pass?

The Today Show this morning lumped Bill O’Reilly’s now famous meltdown in with various celebrity gaffs and bloopers, including the one by WNBC news anchor Sue Simmons. Yesterday O’Reilly’s meltdown was all over the web. In this Today Show clip it is hardly mentioned and seems to be dismissed as some sort of flub that was just a slip of the tongue. Obviously that’s not what it was.

Couldn’t they find someone better to talk to about this than Marvet Britto (Celebrity Publicist) and Donnie Deutsch? Donnie Deutsch has never said anything that I agree with. He is as vapid as they come. I’ve never heard of Marvet Britto before. She seems to be as vapid as Deutsch.

This segment by the Today Show is upsetting to me. Sue Simmons revealed a side of herself that was previously not known to her viewers. Bill O’Reilly revealed a side of himself that we all know all too well. There is a difference and the Today Show was pretending there isn’t.

Why does this matter? For one thing the Today Show is being dishonest. They should be reporting the truth, not trying to change it. Secondly, some people actually seem to take Bill O’Reilly seriously and believe the things he says. For this reason the Today Show should take him seriously and not be pretending that what he says and how he says it is the same thing as Katie Couric falling down.

In the now famous clip of Bill O’Reilly he is exactly the same Bill O’Reilly we’ve all come to hate. He is rude, loud, uncouth, self-centered, and stupid. He talks, but he doesn’t listen. The off camera voice is polite, quiet, and informative. Yet O’Reilly mistreats the poor guy for no reason other than O’Reilly is an ignorant ass who can’t even do his job right.

Play the clip below and notice how they try to blur O’Reilly’s meanness and ignorance (who doesn’t know what “to play us out” means?) with other peoples mistakes. Marvet Britto says “They’re not talking about curbing a bad person.” However, O’Reilly is a bad person. Donnie Deutsch says “There is a difference between just a human slip and something that shows anger or hatred or a real human flaw.” Yes, I agree with this, but this is not the case with Bill O’Reilly’s behavior. He shows anger, hatred, and is a real human flaw.

Think for a moment of all the young people that see Bill O’Reilly on television. How do they process what they see? Do they see someone who is despicable? Or do they see someone who is a role model for success and riches? The world already has enough assholes, we don’t need Bill O’Reilly to be grooming more.

The word schadenfreude (enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others) is used in the clip of the Today Show. In the case of O’Reilly much more than schadenfreude is needed. Someone needs to shut him up.

Enough already, here is the clip:


If you don't see the video, try this: Anchor mishaps caught on tape