Juan Williams: Fox News Lets 'Black Guy With A Hispanic Name' Host O'Reilly's Show

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience.

In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains emotionally "roiled" by the incident and said, despite being hired full-time by Fox News with a three-year, $2 million contract, "there's an emotional disconnect, because the way it feels to me is like I just got fired and I'm not even sure what I did wrong."

Williams said he was particularly upset over NPR CEO Vivian Schiller's comment that he should have kept his remark — that he gets "nervous" when he sees Muslims on planes — with "his psychiatrist or his publicist."

And he added that NPR executives simply do not understand Fox News:

"At NPR...they don't know this: A third of the audience for Bill O'Reilly's show is made up of people of color," Williams said. "At NPR, they think, 'Oh, these people who watch Fox don't appreciate diversity of opinion, they're not smart people. They're not informed people. Oh, yeah? I'll tell you what: They're informed."...

Williams said NPR "just doesn't understand the Fox audience" -- or have any idea how much more enlightened Fox News management is in some ways compared with news outlets like NPR, CNBC or CNN.

"Just consider the idea that Fox allows me the opportunity to sit in for Bill O'Reilly on their No. 1 show," he said. "That's the franchise. That's the moneymaker. If that show falls in the toilet, it's bad for the whole lineup. And yet Fox allows a black guy with a Hispanic name to sit in the big chair and host the show."

Williams was fired from NPR shortly after making his controversial comment on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor." Williams has said he stands by his comments, and NPR CEO Schiller has apologized for the way she handled his firing but has also defended the decision. The situation has prompted a backlash, with conservative politicians and commentators calling for the government to de-fund NPR in the wake of the episode; NPR also received a bomb threat Monday in an apparent response to its firing of Williams.

Comments

[Bluesman2008]

05:28 AM on 11/06/2010

Wow. He sure went to the dark side...and so quickly. What was he thinking?

[ayisha]

08:30 AM on 11/06/2010

do you listen to much public radio? he's had a foot in that door for a long time now. i still maintain that NPR should have sanctioned him, as opposed to firing him outright... but i understand that they actually are trying to uphold some aspect of journalistic integrity. imagine a world where reporters REPORTED the facts related to a given event and left the punditizing and conjecture to those other people. i LOVE Carl Castle precisely because he has managed to make himself into an icon in a forum that makes fun of people and events in the news without ever addressing his thoughts/opinions on said issues. i am not suggesting that everyone at NPR is a model of journalistic morals, but they do a LOT better than many others in the field. Juan Williams wants to have his cake and eat it to... to hang on to credibility by being part of the NPR crowd, but to sneak over to Fox occasionally to take cheap shots. guess what, Juan? Fox News went to court to have itself declared an ENTERTAINMENT entity, so that they can circumvent the rules of journalism. so i ask... which dummy are you exactly in their little puppet show?

[retromega]

09:03 PM on 11/01/2010

Juan Williams reminds me of trying to convince my High School Classmates that Jim Crow laws were a legal codification of Racism.

When this particular classmate's father, as head of the local draft board, addressed his son's High School Class, he started out with one of those break the ice jokes that featured Rastus and Kingfish! I'd put money on Juan Williams thinking these are "funny jokes".

1968 was not that long ago! But poor Juan doesn't realize he is just paid to schuck and jive, put on his face paint and demean himself!

What is sad is that he does not have the slightest inkling that many people have a sense of pride in both their heritage and in their own accomplishments!

One has to ask what has Juan Williams accomplished of any value that can not be summarized by a "$".

[Madagain]

07:00 PM on 11/01/2010

Yea Juan, money buys some very good opinions, doesn't it?

[BKFactor]

02:48 PM on 10/30/2010

About Juan Williams comment:
http://clevelandssecretclub.blogspot.com/2010/10/ive-had-it-up-to-here-with-juan.html

[SEQUOIABISON]

07:23 AM on 10/30/2010

"Fox News is not Racist." Only the commentators are Racist.

[Big Game Hunter]

06:27 AM on 10/30/2010

Fox News isn't racist. If they were, would they pay a black man $2 Million to say that? I don't think so.

[CompliantMedia]

03:40 AM on 10/30/2010

From Juan Williams profile:
Accused of mocking Michelle Obama's attire with a reference to Stokey Carmichael.
His elder son has worked for two different GOP U.S. senators.
His younger son is attending a conservative Quaker college.
He supported arch conservative Clarence Thomas.
He made frequent appearances on Bill O'Reilly's FNC show when O'Reilly needed cover for perceived racially insensitive comments.

You have to ask is this guy really a faux liberal much of the time?

It's no wonder he is hated by so many on the Left just like Joe Scarborough and Kathleen Parker are by many conservatives who like to call them Rinos.

[Big Game Hunter]

06:28 AM on 10/30/2010

There are conservative Quakers? I often thought of them as the "hippies of Christianity".

[TruGal]

09:25 PM on 10/29/2010

Stockholm Syndrome. Look it up, Juan. You're suffering from it.

[thankulord13]

07:50 PM on 10/29/2010

Yes Fake News has their Uncle Tom in Williams who doubles as the building janitor.

[mytwocents02]

04:35 PM on 10/29/2010

"A third of the audience for Bill O'Reilly's show is made up of people of color."

Using the term loosely, I'll allow that liver spots on a third of the old white men who watch O'Reilly qualifies them as people of color.

[corwin]

11:17 PM on 10/29/2010

I'm not sure where this stat originated,or even why Orientals aren't considered "persons of color"
Is it because their SAT's are too high,or is there a different reason? I know when I was on the Admissions comittee we didn't give them affirmative action points.But,then,they really didn't need them. The lowest student I recall had an MCAT of.2,2and a GPA of 2.11 (I think. It's been quite a while.) We all looked embarassed,then voted to admit .

[Golfer59]

03:19 PM on 10/29/2010

Juan "the tool" Williams. Mastsa ain't all bad!!!

[Golfer59]

03:45 PM on 10/29/2010

My point exactly...Juan "the tool" Williams is earning his keep.

[Robert Ford Jr]

03:19 PM on 10/29/2010

You know better Mr. Williams. Faux News just rope-a-doped you for $2M and used you for window dressing.

[mapmaker515]

01:47 PM on 10/29/2010

Fox News isn't racist....they just hire racist commentators to share it with you.

[libluv235]

01:00 PM on 10/29/2010

Faux news used to be tolerable 10 years ago.... They took a serious and calculated turn to the dark side in the past few years.unbelievable that they are allowed ton stay on the air as a legitimate news station. The propaganda and false information they spew is unprecedented in a democracy. Maybe because their slide was so gradual. Maybe because with video game culture so dominant, people are numb to violence and hate. Maybe after 20 years of shock jock hate speech people no longer recognize overt hate.

[libluv235]

12:54 PM on 10/29/2010

Juan, who cares what you think... Glad I don't have to hear you anymore on my NPR station.

[tr88]

07:14 PM on 11/17/2010

They are pure as pravda now.