This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:
Hey, did you hear the one where Bill O’Reilly called a black professor a drug dealer? What a racist.
At least that is what Gawker wanted you to believe, in its post Bill O’Reilly Tells Black Guest He Looks Like a Drug Dealer (italics in original):
Marc Lamont Hill is the black Liberal Columbia professor who for some reason is always on The O’Reilly Factor. Tonight’s episode made Hill’s presence even more puzzling, because Bill O’Reilly told him that he looks like someone who sells drugs.
The two were happily discussing Obama’s dumb plan to send 1200 troops who will secure the entire Mexican border against illegal immigrants. Then O’Reilly joked: Say you’re a cocaine dealer—and you kind of look like one a little bit.” To which Hill replied, gamely: “As do you… you know, you actually look like a cocaine user.”
Dang, O’Reilly, having black commentators is supposed to make you look less racist. Unless O’Reilly was talking about Hill’s spiffy pinstripe suit. Like, how could you afford such a nice suit unless you were selling drugs? That’s probably it.
But watch the video (below), and it is clear that there was no racial motive or intent. The two were joking around with each other. The post title, and the entire thrust of the post, was to paint O’Reilly as being a racist without supporting facts.
The folks at Think Progress must have felt like manna had just dropped from heaven when they saw the Gawker post. Writer Lee Fong linked to Gawker with a post titled O’Reilly tells African-American Columbia University professor that he looks like a ‘cocaine dealer.’
To make sure the reader didn’t mistake this banter for banter, Think Progress claimed that “O’Reilly is no stranger to racial stereotypes and inflammatory racial rhetoric.” The examples cited by Think Progress were as valid as the Gawker post.
This is how they do it. Take a clearly non-racially motivated comment, quote the comment with the fact that it was made to a black person, and then make the allegation of racism.
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