Skin color and politics made for a heated debate between ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and journalist Bill O’Reilly who claimed that America is a “post-racial” country.
O’Reilly attempted to defend himself on his “No Spin News” show as he debated Smith over a “color-blind” America and said his recent comments were taken out of context.
(Video Credit: Bill O’Reilly)
Smith called out O’Reilly’s claim that “skin color doesn’t have anything to do with politics” as “detached from reality” during a discussion on the topic with NewsNation host Chris Cuomo.
“I feel sorry for Bill O’Reilly,” Smith said. “As brilliant as he has been, he’s a bit detached from reality.”
“You’re not living in our world,” Smith said. “I am not disrespecting him. But he is clearly off his rocker with those comments. The nerve of him to do that.”
Bill O’Reilly claimed “skin color doesn’t have anything to do with politics” on my show last month.
Stephen A Smith joined me tonight with his take on that — pic.twitter.com/N9ZWH324VQ— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) August 13, 2024
On Tuesday, the sports journalist took the topic head-on with O’Reilly himself.
“We are post-racial in evaluating people on the basis of their skin color or disparaging people as Trump did to Kamala Harris — we are beyond that here, and if we’re not, then people like me and you should disparage the skin color of people. That’s the point I made,” the former Fox News host explained.
“You were alluding to this reality that that’s virtually non-existent, that that’s not something that’s really going on in everyday America today,” Smith pushed back.
“I would say to you, it might be more the exception than the rule in today’s generation compared to what it was decades ago, but it still exists. Ask any Black person, and they’ll tell you that,” he added.
O’Reilly claimed his comments were “centered” on the former president’s attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I understand the reality that African Americans and other minorities are treated differently in some places than Caucasians. Everybody gets that, but when politicians at the highest level, Steve, and this is very important for a guy like you who has access to a lot of minority viewers and listeners. When these people devolve into criticism because of skin color, that should not be acceptable,” O’Reilly argued.
The heated back-and-forth continued as they discussed reproductive rights as a factor in the November election. But O’Reilly contended that many black voters were jumping on the Harris train simply because of her skin color.
“You know better than me, Bill, I would challenge you on that. How come it can’t be the galvanization of a bunch of women out there because obviously, reproductive rights is going to be a huge element in this election,” Smith said.
“Reproductive rights, ooo-eee. It’s an issue —” O’Reilly responded.
“Really?! With all these women out here?” Smith shot back.
“It’s not the dominant issue,” O’Reilly told him. “What the dominant issue is is elevating people in the working and middle class so they have some security which Trump did in his four years.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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