A day following the mass shooting during a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, disgraced Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly went on an asinine and (even for him) deeply racist rant on his No Spin News and Analysis podcast in response to a recent press conference by Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker.
“There are no words for the kind of evil that turns a community celebration into a tragedy,” Pritzker said. “As we mourn together, the State of Illinois will provide every available resource to Highland Park and surrounding communities in the days and weeks ahead as the community works to recover from this horrific tragedy.”
O’Reilly responded to this very measured address with a wholly out-of-touch and bigoted fit. He pretended to be utterly unaware that the shooting, which left seven dead and nearly 40 others injured, had nothing to do with drugs or gangs. He ignored the fact that the shooter himself is a young, white man. In fact, O’Reilly didn’t even bother to mention that the neighborhood is wealthy and predominantly Jewish. Yet O’Reilly continued to blast Pritzker about “minority gangs,” which he implied were behind the shooting in the city. This is the usual GOP hate whistle, and Chicago is the usual target.
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"You, J. B., are not gonna stop loons! And you won’t stop crime, drug crime, drug gangs, because they are minority gangs! That's why you won't stop 'em!" O'Reilly foamed. "You!!! Aid and abet this murderer in Chicago every blanken' day!" O'Reilly then hollered. "You! Don't be sanctimonious with me!"
The reality is that most of the guns coming into the city of Chicago come from states with much more lax gun laws, as ProPublica reported in 2017. But the narrative that the gun violence in the city is a Black, brown, or gang-related issue continues to be proffered.
"Chicago remains one of America’s most economically and racially segregated cities," InjusticeWatch wrote. "Amid the skyscrapers on The Magnificent Mile, wealthy tourists and residents shop at pricey retailers where a pair of sandals can easily cost $200. Just four miles west, in the shadow of that storied skyline, some of the city’s young people live in poverty and are surrounded by a pervasive sense of danger, where even a walk to school can feel perilous. These experiences can lead them to join cliques, which provide a sense of safety and community."
O’Reilly made his millions blowing the racist dog whistle, and this time is no different. But, instead of looking at facts or figures, the bloated blowhard blames “minority gangs,” when the shooter is, like so many mass shooters in this nation, a white man in his early 20s with an AR-15 and a penchant for killing large numbers of people.
O’Reilly, who was kicked out of Fox in 2017 amid a slew of sexual harassment lawsuits, was eventually forced to settle the cases to the tune of $32 million.
For old time's sake, here’s more of O’Reilly losing his shit.
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