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Questlove: Bill O'Reilly’s 'Existence Is 5 Steps Backwards' For Humanity

Accurate.
Brennan Williams
By 

Pop Culture Editor, HuffPost

Questlove schools O'Reilly on slavery.
Questlove schools O'Reilly on slavery.
Getty

Questlove didn’t find anything entertaining or enlightening about Bill O’Reilly taking issue with Michelle Obama’s “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves” line from her Democratic National Convention speech.

Like many on social media, the multi-instrumentalist addressed O’Reilly’s sentiments on Wednesday in an Instagram response. O’Reilly stated on his show that the slaves who built the White House were ‘well-fed’ and had “decent lodgings provided by the government.”

Slavery was inhumane. Slavery was sadistic. Slavery was uncomfortable. Slavery was unjust. Slavery was a nightmare. Slavery was a despicable act. Slavery is the pebble whose ripple in the river still resonates on and on and on and on. I'd like to think most of you have common sense. But there is nothing more dangerous than a man in a suit pretending to be a journalist giving revisionist history on the ugliness that was slavery. What's so fun and lighthearted about being shackled? being separated from your loved ones? Being molested and raped HOURLY, being branded with hot iron? being property? being castrated? being flogged? being malnourished? living in high stress conditions? forced to lay in your own feces? being sold in a heartbeat? suppressing ANY emotion (with the surprising exception of singing it was illegal ---lashes or death--to read, write, "talk back" or "sass", cry (how many of you heard "you better NOT cry before I give you something to cry about!"), get angry, or even more surprising LAUGHING (a plantation barrel of water was always in proximity to dunk ones head in so one could express emotions and suppress the sound as to not alert your overseer of your "sassing"---deep history I just learned about laughing and the slave period---the first recorded song "The Laughing Song" was the defiant "F%^k Tha Police" of its day (also where the term "Barrel Of Laughs" gets its origin)---I'm getting beside the point. I dunno if that man's (never say his name) point is to troll at any cost whatsoever but his entire existence is a 5 steps backwards for any progress made in humanity. My dismay is the percentage of people who get their news from memes/headlines/& sources to whom they have 0 clue is feeding them false information. Human Trafficking in any form from today's underage prostitution, to the private Prison System we exercise here in the US, to the Holocaust to 500 years of Slavery--and all other examples I've not mentioned is INHUMANE & Evil. ---watch where you get your information from and the company you keep people.

A photo posted by Questlove Gomez (@questlove) on

“I’d like to think most of you have common sense. But there is nothing more dangerous than a man in a suit pretending to be a journalist giving revisionist history on the ugliness that was slavery,” Questlove wrote to his 700k-plus followers.

On Wednesday’s episode of “The O’Reilly Factor,” O’Reilly responded to his hailstorm of criticism by reiterating his remarks and adding he’s being targeted by “far left” media outlets (watch the clip below).

“In order to keep slaves and free laborers strong, the Washington administration provided meat, bread and other staples, also decent lodging on the grounds of the new presidential building. That is a fact. Not a justification, not a defense of slavery. Anyone who implies a soft on slavery message is beneath contempt. Some celebrities like Stephen King, Bryan Cranston, Broadway star Audra McDonald immediately sought to exploit the situation on Twitter by buying into the defamation. We have invited all of them on ‘The Factor.’ Place your bets on whether they will show up.”

Perhaps, O’Reilly should also add Questlove’s name to the list of invites.

Giphy

Check out Bill O’Reilly’s response in the clip below.

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