Bill O'Reilly condemned the confrontation between an eight-year-old boy and Michele Bachmann over gay rights, saying that the boy's lesbian mother had used her son in a cowardly fashion.
The boy, named Elijah, was filmed telling Bachmann, "my mommy's gay but she doesn't need fixing." Speaking on his Wednesday show, O'Reilly told gay activist Sally Kohn that he felt the mother was using her son as a political tool, and that the boy had been coached.
"I don't think that's right," he said. "I think the mother did this child a disservice." Kohn disagreed, saying that "kids aren't raised in vacuums" and that Elijah was probably well aware of anti-gay discourse.
"I think you're living in the land of Oz," O'Reilly said. "I have an eight-year-old son...none of 'em are thinking of gay rights." He added that he thought the mother's behavior was "appalling."
Later, O'Reilly doubled down on his ideas about children.
"An eight-year-old doesn't know what homosexuality is," he said. "Yes they do!" Kohn replied. "No, they don't," O'Reilly said. "They may know the term, they may know that Mom or Dad are different...but they're not emotionally equipped to understand it."
Watch (via Mediaite):
How the GOP candidates stack up on gay rights:
