Several news reports on Tuesday wrongly accused Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, a former high school history teacher, of having “defended” slave labor in the U.S. on his show that night.
On his show, O’Reilly chronicled the history of the construction of the White House, following up on first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention Monday night.
In her speech, Obama memorably highlighted her status as a black woman currently living “in a house that was built by slaves.”
In a commentary on his show Tuesday, O’Reilly said that the line from Obama’s speech was a reference “to the evolution of America in a positive way. It was a positive comment.”
“The history behind her remark is fascinating,” the host said, noting that “slaves did participate,” according to government records.
It was the part of O’Reilly’s commentary in which he said that those slaves were “well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government” that news outlets found controversial, even though he never said that those living conditions justified slavery.
A write-up in the New York Daily News said O’Reilly “defended the United States’ use of slave labor after Michelle Obama highlighted the fact that the White House ‘was built by slaves’ during her DNC address.”
Reports in Politico and USA Today also said O’Reilly was defending slavery and accused him of trying to “fact-check” Obama.
O’Reilly never said he was fact-checking Obama, though the fact-checking website PolitiFact actually did post an item Monday night solely for the purpose of verifying the first lady’s comment. The New York Times also published a piece headlined, “Yes, Slaves Did Help Build the White House.”
On O’Reilly’s commentary, USA Today wrote, “As it turned out, one person was not entirely amused [with Obama’s speech] and went so far as to ‘fact check’ the first lady’s comments.”
The report said that O’Reilly had “defended the working conditions slaves faced.”
Wrote Politico: O’Reilly “defended the working conditions for the slaves who built the White House, attempting to fact-check Michelle Obama’s speech from the night before.”
The website Vox said that “It’s not surprising that O’Reilly finds comfort in portraying the nation he loves in a way that depicts slaves as having ‘decent lodgings.'”
A spokesperson for Fox News did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
