The Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, says ousted Fox News host Bill OReilly acted asa spokesman for white nationalismduring his more than 20 years on the cable outlet.
During adiscussion with MSNBCs Chris Hayes, Sharpton, who also hasa weekly program on the liberal news outlet, talked about his past experiences with OReilly and President Donald Trump.
Hayes reminded Sharpton of a moment in 2013 when OReilly referred to him as a race hustler.
Talking Points believes the day of the race hustlers is coming to an end, the former Fox host said at the time.This we and them business gets the country nowhere. Fair-minded Americans well understand there are severe problems in the black community that have to be solved.
Hayesthen asked Sharpton if he believed OReilly was a race hustler.
The reverend said he didnt want to get into name-calling but asserted that the former broadcaster certainly promoted a very clear and in-no-way-nuanced white nationalism, and saying he said the white establishment, like he was a spokesman for it.
Sharpton was referring toelection night 2012, when OReilly claimed that white establishment is now the minority.
And whereby 20 years ago President Obama would have been roundly defeated by an establishment candidate like Mitt Romney, OReilly explained at the time.The white establishment is now the minority. And the voters, many of them, feel that this economic system is stacked against them and they want stuff.
Sharpton said that comment was in its own essence race-based and he, I think, really felt that way in all that he expressed.
After that remark from Sharpton, Hayes said there is such a similarity between OReilly and Trump.
Theres a kind of continuity there of the cauldron of that kind of era of racial strife in [New York City] that I think defines the worldview of both those men, Hayes said.
Sharpton agreed with Hayes. We get called thehustlers, we get called the names, we get called all kinds of non-complimentary terms for fighting against people who say that they are trying to preserve something based on their race and based on their privilege, Sharpton said.
When you have an institution that seems to create an environment where thats allowed based on race or gender soon, that institution has to be corrected, hesaid.
Sharptons comments came just hours after21st Century Fox, Fox News parent company, announced it was cutting ties with OReilly, who was facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
After a thorough and careful review of allegations against him, the Company and Bill OReilly have agreed that Mr. OReilly will not return to the Fox News Channel, 21st Century Foxs statement read.
In addition to the accusations against OReilly, a mounting number of advertisers werepulling their commercials from The OReilly Factor time slot, a campaign apparently led by the progressive media watchdog group Media Matters,forcing the network to address the issue sooner rather than later.
OReilly joined Fox in 1996 and, according to Adweek, his program was the No. 1 cable news show on television in 2016.
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