Bill O’Reilly: African-Americans ‘Ill-Educated And Have Tattoos On Their Foreheads’
Bill O’Reilly, during an interview with Donald Trump last night, made several comments about African-Americans, alleging that Trump won’t be able to bring jobs to African-American communities, because poor blacks don’t have the skills to compete in a modern workforce.
“Many of them are ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads, and I hate to be generalized about it, but it’s true. If you look at all the educational statistics how are you going to get jobs for people who aren’t qualified?” asked Bill O’Reilly during an interview with Donald Trump on Fox News last night, reports Politico.
Donald Trump replied, keeping on message, detailing an economic plan that the Republican frontrunner claims will bring jobs to African-American communities. O’Reilly dismissed Trump’s claim that economic policy can help impoverished black communities, by alleging that African-Americans are incapable of working for companies like Apple because they are “ill-educated” and otherwise unqualified for highly skilled labor. Trump countered O’Reilly’s claims, by stating that not all Americans have equal economic footing, or equal access to education.
Bill O'Reilly just said many African-Americans 'are ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads' https://t.co/Ohw8qk5pb8
— Hanna Trudo (@HCTrudo) April 12, 2016
“You say you can bring jobs back but if the kid isn’t qualified to do the job and can’t do the work,” said Bill O’Reilly last night, interrupting Donald Trump during the Fox News interview.
Commentators have already pounced on the Bill O’Reilly interview with Donald Trump, attacking O’Reilly’s racist comments, and generalizations about African-Americans. Outlets like Salon have sharply criticized the Fox News anchor for his incendiary and racist comments about African-Americans, claiming that O’Reilly is drawing on racist stereotypes, and making up entirely new ones with his statement that many African-Americans are not only ill-educated but also have “tattoos on their foreheads.”
“Not only is he familiar with all the classic racist stereotypes, but he’s pretty good at making up entirely new ones,” reports Salon today after the shocking Bill O’Reilly interview last night.
Bill O’Reilly is frequently a source of controversy for the Fox News network, and the O’Reilly interview with Donald Trump is no exception. The interview went on, with O’Reilly interrupting Trump several times to reassert his earlier points about African-Americans being ill-educated and unqualified to have jobs, which Trump claims his economic policy will make available in poor neighborhoods.
“We’re going to bring jobs back, we’re going to have Apple computers made in this country not just,” Trump began before Bill O’Reilly interjected, “But you have to have the skills to make Apple computers.”
Surprised, Donald Trump responded diplomatically, reiterating that unemployment among African-American youth is more a symptom of economic policy and access to education than it is any personal failings of African-Americans. Uncharacteristically for the Republican frontrunner who has frequently been criticized for his own alleged racism, Trump fought back against Bill O’Reilly’s assertions about black Americans being ill-educated and unqualified.
.@RolandsMartin Challenges Bill O'Reilly to Debate Over 'Many Blacks Ill-Educated' Remark https://t.co/0WyFxzA4JG pic.twitter.com/oM1swRT8ga
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) April 12, 2016
Salon also points out that Bill O’Reilly expressed similar racist beliefs in the past, when in 2014, O’Reilly criticized Beyoncé for releasing an album containing sexually explicit lyrics that would cause “black girls” to go out and “get pregnant.”
“She knows – this woman knows – that young girls are getting pregnant in the African-American community, now it’s about 70 percent out of wedlock. She knows and doesn’t seem to care,” said Bill O’Reilly in 2014, criticizing Beyoncé for explicit lyrics.
The New York Daily News criticized Bill O’Reilly’s comments about black youth being ill-educated and having tattoos on their foreheads by stating that O’Reilly had outdone Donald Trump with his racist remarks about African-American youth. At the start of the interview, O’Reilly reportedly made his intentions clear to Donald Trump, stating that he intended to “talk about the minorities” before making his shocking claims that have so far ignited a firestorm of criticism for the Fox News host.
[Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images]
