Bill O’Reilly visited the Dan Le Batard show yesterday to discuss his new book. The interview went along pleasantly until, near the end, Le Batard started needling O’Reilly about what “brings you shame?”
Throughout most of the interview O’Reilly discussed his book, his teaching career, how he got into broadcast journalism and his youthful athletics.
But then, at about 8:30 into the interview, Le Batard started trying to bait O’Reilly. Le Batard asked, “Is there anything in your career that brings you shame, anything that you’ve done that you’re embarrassed of?”
No, O’Reilly said, he’s been an “honest purveyor of the news.” He claimed he “never had to retract a story.” He credited his success to being “pretty methodical” and added, “we’re very careful and we’re very honest.”
Now, THAT would have been the perfect opportunity to confront O'Reilly on his record of dishonesty and inflammatory rhetoric. So you don’t have a controversy that has been unpleasant to go through?” Le Batard pressed.
“Plenty but that stuff comes with the territory,” O’Reilly replied. “Anybody famous gets smeared, particularly with the internet. But we don’t, we just don’t comment on that stuff.”
But Le Batard would not give up. He asked, “But what’s the biggest one? What’s the one that caused you the most unrest because it’s not fun to go through those things?”
“I’m not gonna get into any of that stuff. So if you guys have another question, I’m good. If not, I’ll say good-bye,” O’Reilly said.
“Wait a minute! What do you mean you’re not gonna get into any of that stuff? I don’t understand,” Le Batard said. To me, it was clear he understood perfectly but was intent on some kind of gotcha.
O’Reilly was not going to be gotten. He said, “We’ll see you guys. Thanks for making the time, I appreciate it.” Then he got off the phone.
So Le Batard played O'Reilly's infamous “F*** it, do it live” clip that must have been cued up in advance. I'm guessing the hope was that O'Reilly would blow his top and put the Le Batard show into the annals of O'Reilly history.
Now, this may surprise you but I thought Le Batard behaved like an unprofessional jerk. If he wanted to confront O’Reilly about something, he should have just asked him straight out instead of coyly insinuating. There’s plenty to legitimately challenge O’Reilly on, why pretend you don’t have something in mind and try to rope a guest into tripping himself up? And if you're just doing it to get your guest to blow up and make a spectacle of himself for the sake of your ratings or because you hate O'Reilly or whatever - well, I'm glad he foiled the effort.
You won’t hear me say this often but I think O’Reilly did exactly the right thing.
Listen to the interview below.
(H/T Mediaite)
O'Reilly graphic by Nina Brodsky
Updated 11/18/14 12:38 PM
And, in the name Le Batard, the “s” is silent . . .
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That would have been the perfect opportunity for Le Batard to challenge O’Reilly in a substantive, professional way but he had probably been too lazy to actually look up how O’Reilly operates beyond the internet vitals. I’m going to update my post to make that point. :)
