Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly hit back at political satirist Stephen Colbert for purposefully distorting his remarks about equality,
Mediaite reported.
O'Reilly's
April 8 "Talking Points" segment addressed the "grievance industry" which he said disparages the country by claiming that the United States is riddled with inequality.
He attributed the previous evening's rampage by students of the University of Connecticut, whose team had won the men's national basketball championship, and by students at the University of Kentucky, home of the losing team, to a breakdown of the respect for authority. This sentiment is driven by grievance and entitlement, O'Reilly said.
"The left-wing media legitimizes that nonsense, and one of the biggest mouthpieces for the progressive movement is Stephen Colbert," the host of Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" said.
O'Reilly said that while "only about a million people" watch his late night program, Colbert is "the darling of the far-left Internet." On Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," Colbert plays a conservative commentator.
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"Recently, Colbert mocked me on the subject of equality," O'Reilly said.
After showing a clip from Colbert's program, O'Reilly responded: "Mr. Colbert is a deceiver. I strongly believe in fighting for equality and strongly believe institutional bias should be against the law."
He said Colbert should look at how equality as imposed in the former Soviet Union and China actually works out.
Colbert needs to understand that Rev. Martin Luther King gave his life for "equality of opportunity," O'Reilly said.
He characterized Colbert as an ideological fanatic whose "shameful" views are "misguided in the extreme." While Colbert's analysis is presented as satire, he is "a true progressive believer playing exclusively to other believers. Colbert can be dismissed as clueless, but the guy does do damage because he gives cover to powerful people who are selling Americans a big lie – that this country is bad."
America is not perfect, O'Reilly concluded. But it set the "gold standard for opportunity in this world."
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