Murdoch: Beck 'Was Right,' Obama Made Racist Comment (VIDEO)

After a summer of silence, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch has piped up to say that his newest Fox News star, Glenn Beck, "was right" when he called President Obama a racist in July even if he was wrong to say it.

UPDATED WITH NEWS CORP STATEMENT BELOW

"On the racist thing, that caused a [unintelligible]," Murdoch said in an interview with his Sky News Australia over the weekend, referring to Beck's claim which seems to have been prompted by Obama's reaction to the controversial arrest of African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates.

"But [Obama] did make a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so on, which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And that was something which perhaps shouldn't have been said about the President, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, [Beck] was right."

Beck's comment prompted an advertiser revolt, with many brands boycotting his show and directing their advertising dollars to other Fox News programs. It can also be seen as his tipping point: since July, Beck has been challenging Rush Limbaugh as the media voice of the Republican party; his ratings are up, he's made the cover of TIME magazine, he received the key to his hometown, and, this past weekend, he was even skewered on "SNL."

WATCH (discussion begins near 18:00 mark):

In the same interview, Murdoch told Sky that he may remove News Corp newspaper sites from Google searches entirely.

Monday night on MSNBC's "Countdown," Keith Olbermann named Murdoch "Worst Person in the World" for defending Beck's comment:

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The progressive group Media Matters is also hammering Fox News over the comments.

UPDATE: News Corp spokesperson Gary Ginsberg has told Politico that Murdoch does not believe the president is racist.

"He does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist," Ginsberg told Politico.

Comments

[mikebarden]

09:17 AM on 11/14/2009

Gee, NOT AGAIN!

[Solja]

03:38 PM on 11/13/2009

Hi,

Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX and the News Corporatio­n empire, just said Glenn Beck "was right" when he called President Obama "racist."

I signed a petition urging Murdoch to apologize and put an end to FOX's race-baiti­ng. Can you join me at the link below?

http://civ­ic.moveon.­org/murdoc­h/?r_by=17­925-909871­4-qmELICx&­rc=confema­il

Thanks!

[LittleMittens]

12:53 AM on 11/12/2009

what is it about old white guys and their penchant to call everyone else racist when they aren't getting their way???

[nini516]

05:20 PM on 11/11/2009

"Color for change" is back. They're the ones who got advertiser­s to pull their spots from Beck's show.

http://www­.colorofch­ange.org/m­urdoch/?id­=1750-9638­28

[nini516]

05:13 PM on 11/11/2009

You can't put the words back into your mouth it's entirely too late!!

I'm boycotting ALL things Murdoch. Can anyone provide a list?

[canalkat]

01:39 PM on 11/11/2009

I know Murdoch owns a lot of businesses­, but one that can be boycotted is Direct TV, switch to Dish Network. Same quality and better programmin­g. .

[justoverit333]

12:03 PM on 11/11/2009

What was the comment he refers to?

[bgofca]

11:53 AM on 11/11/2009

boycott newscorp

[WinterParkMom]

11:17 AM on 11/11/2009

Sorry murdoch, you can't unring that bell. This is what happens when our former republican congress and republican president decide to remove anti trust laws so this one man can controll so much media in our country. He should never have been allowed to do it, but those people only listen to whoever's writing the checks.

[ebanks84]

12:55 PM on 11/11/2009

Bingo! MONEY talks in America these days! Commion sense has left the country!

[OC4Obama4Pres]

06:02 PM on 11/11/2009

Clinton singed the bill that destroyed local radio.

[jean22]

10:06 AM on 11/11/2009

Is there anyway we could boycott anything and everything Murdoch is involved in?

[Vet68]

04:59 PM on 11/11/2009

Yes, here' link to their website and companies which fall under News Corp umbrella..

http://www­.newscorp.­com

Happy boycotting­... make Rupert pay for what he's done to destroy the civility of the "news" in America.

[mi]

10:02 AM on 11/11/2009

So the old rich troll agrees with the
dangerous clown.....­. no surprise.

[bothsides]

09:56 AM on 11/11/2009

he hates black people nuff said

[imfedup]

09:19 AM on 11/11/2009

He made a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so on? WTF? Could you be a teeny bit more specific, Mr. Pirate?

[maillady]

09:02 AM on 11/11/2009

Just because Murdoch agrees with Beck means nothing. Murdoch orders his employees to bash the President, so of course he AGREES with it. Murdoch has completely lost his credibilit­y and has no business owning a newspaper. What happened to being fair and letting your readers make up their own mind? Murdoch force feeds his readers with hatred towards the current administra­tion. He needs to retire and go somewhere to sit and just count his money, because his reputation is beyond repair.

[PWM]

10:21 AM on 11/11/2009

This is true. Murdoch, a curse Reagan left us when he allowed the man to become a citizen without meeting the immigratio­n requiremen­ts just so this foreignor could buy up mass sectors of the media. Murdoch is known to order his empire to attack this and that figure, and classified Foxnews as entertainm­ent (like Jon Stewart) so that Fox could avoid the libel lawsuits that would follow.

[Greg Petty]

08:37 PM on 11/11/2009

Media outlets should report the news good or bad, not an us against you mentality

[SouthernBoy]

07:45 AM on 11/11/2009

Ok Murdoch...­her's my position on your empire....­.I don't read it or watch it.

If FOX NEWS was managed by OBL we would shut it down....I fail to see the difference between Murdoch and OBL, they are both non citizens of the USA.