La Shawn Barber

On CNN, O’Reilly Is ‘Ahmadinejad,’ Juan Williams, ‘Happy Negro’

By Matthew Balan | September 26, 2007 - 15:24 ET

Even after the Juan Williams "idiots at CNN" rebuke, CNN still pressed on about Bill O’Reilly’s race remarks, and a guest on Wednesday’s "Newsroom" took the language being used against O’Reilly and Williams to new lows. Syracuse University professor and blogger Boyce Watkins appeared on the CNN program, and compared O’Reilly to a murderous movie villain and to Iranian tyrant Ahmadinejad. "If the villain in a movie comes up and says, 'I love you very much,' that usually means he wants to kill you. The fact is that Bill O'Reilly is a guy who has made a career demeaning, degrading, and devaluing every black institution he can get his hands on.... You know, he's about like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when it comes to making ridiculous assertions and waiting for people to respond."

After his villain/Ahmadinejad comparison, Watkins blasted NPR host and Fox News contributor Juan Williams for coming to O’Reilly’s defense. O’Reilly’s race comments had come from an hour of his radio program that involved a segment with Williams. "Juan Williams sitting there, is sort of the 'Happy Negro' agreeing with Bill O'Reilly, doesn't impress me at all. A man cannot walk into your home and congratulate your mother for not being a prostitute and not expect you to be offended."

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Feeling the 'Love' from Jon Stewart's Liberal Fans

By La Shawn Barber | September 20, 2007 - 08:15 ET

The time I spent worrying about my segment on “The Daily Show” (filmed last month) was wasted. Yeah, I sound a little silly (hated my voice, liked my hair, but my face looked fat - this photo I like…but not because of the way I look…OK, moving on), and the editor sliced and diced sound bites. But overall, it’s much better than I expected. (And my expectations were quite low.) Whew!

I got a bunch of nastygrams this morning from - you guessed it - white liberals. They wrote the sort of things I know they wouldn’t say to my face.