Bill O’Reilly defended Fox News against Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s lawsuit threat Tuesday.
“I didn’t have anything to do with this, but I will point out that that Mayor is a socialist, that Fox News isn’t even seen in France because they block it,” O’Reilly said. “This is just an attention getter, another play to the left; suit is going nowhere, it’s ridiculous.”
The “ridiculous lawsuit” O’Reilly dismissed is coming from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who vowed to file suit against Fox News Tuesday for insulting Paris.
“When we’re insulted, and when we’ve had an image, then I think we’ll have to sue, I think we’ll have to go to court, in order to have these words removed,” Mayor Hidalgo said. “The image [statements made on Fox News] of Paris has been prejudiced, and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced.”
What Hidalgo was insulted by—and O’Reilly noted he was not involved with— was a segment on “Justice with Jeanine” where terrorism analyst Steve Emerson claimed there are areas in Birmingham, England that are “no-go zones” for non-Muslims. Other shows echoed that claim, suggesting there are “no-go zones” in France. The statement sparked outrage on social media in the form of a #foxnewsfacts hashtag as well as outrage in Europe.
O’Reilly’s guest Bernie Goldberg pushed back on O’Reilly’s dismissal, suggesting that when any network has to apologize as many times as Fox News over one issue —”something is wrong.”
Fox News did apologize on multiple shows January 17th.
Watch O’Reilly below.