Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said Wednesday night “propaganda and hate now dominate the media landscape,” after he was criticized for noting that slaves who participated in building The White House were “well fed” and were provided with housing on the grounds of the executive mansion. O’Reilly said for telling the history of The White House’s construction, he “was immediately attacked by smear merchants.”
O’Reilly called out the New York Daily News and USA Today, for reporting that O’Reilly had defended slavery. “That is a lie,” he said. “I defended nothing.” O’Reilly’s comments came after a speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention by First Lady Michelle Obama, who said she wakes up every morning “in a house built by slaves.”
Tuesday night, O’Reilly said Mrs. Obama’s mention of slavery was “a positive thing,” as he detailed the “fascinating” history of the mansion’s construction. He noted that the U.S. government eventually stopped “hiring slave labor,” which earned O’Reilly even more criticism Wednesday night from Saturday Night Live comics Colin Jost and Michael Che: