Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday criticized Tucker Carlson for airing a lengthy interview with Kanye West, saying the rapper isn’t a newsworthy figure.
On Newsmax, host Eric Bolling began the segment by noting how antisemitic comments West made during the interview had been edited out from what was shown on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Bolling cited The Daily Beast’s report Monday that Fox executives are “full-on freaked out” about the leak of those unaired clips. He then turned to O’Reilly for his take on the saga.
“I wouldn’t interview him for two minutes,” O’Reilly said, his opinion differing from that of Bolling, who said he understood why Carlson made the choice to speak with a “major news player in this country.”
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“I know that it’s extraordinary for anybody to sit there for more than two hours to do an interview,” O’Reilly said. “I don’t know what that’s all about. I don’t know why that’s necessary.”
Carlson devoted practically all of his 8 p.m. show on Oct. 6 to his conversation with West, who tried to justify wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt. The following night, the rapper, who now goes by Ye, bizarrely suggested that people at a clothing company had advance notice of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, earlier this year.
O’Reilly then explained that if he were in Carlson’s shoes, he would have informed his audience of West’s antisemitic comments and “probably” also not aired any of the interview.
“But again, I wouldn’t have interviewed him anyway,” O’Reilly continued. “I don’t care whether he’s conservative, libertarian, or socialist Bernie Sanders’ best friend. The man does not have the credibility, in my opinion, to take up time on a news program when we have a country that’s falling apart. Bolling, come on!”
After Bolling noted West’s status as a Black billionaire whom conservatives can identify with, for instance how “he says woke culture is ruining the country,” O’Reilly still wasn’t convinced.
“Here’s the mistake that everybody in cable news is making: Who cares if Kanye West is saying bad things about woke leftists?” he exclaimed. “The people who care are conservative people, not the general public—it’s not an important issue for your life.”
