I’m no fan of Jodi Arias but there was something beyond tasteless about the way host Bill O’Reilly treated her pending life-or-death verdict as some kind of theatrical event. “Can we make a bet of some kind? That would be entertaining,” he said to his guests, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lis Wiehl, the Fox News legal pundits who disagreed on the outcome. The “hilarity” that ensued was sickening to anyone who feels that sentencing someone to death is no laughing matter. It just proves that Arias has become nothing more than a media commodity to “pro-life” Fox News.
“Sure!” Guilfoyle said enthusiastically about placing a bet on whether Arias would receive the death penalty. “If (Wiehl) loses , I get all her dresses!” Everybody broke up into laughter, even off screen.
There were even more chuckles as Guilfoyle joked that if she wins the bet, Wiehl gets nothing.
O’Reilly has said he is against the death penalty and I have no reason to doubt it. But this kind of behavior hardly shows a respect for the sanctity of a human life.
Unsurprising behavior.