NEW YORK - Days after a controversial broadcast about his visit to a Harlem restaurant, Bill O’Reilly is in hot water again after making comments about Asian Americans.
“I’m at this great Oriental restaurant,” said O’Reilly on his radio program, The Radio Factor. “And I’m trying to figure out the tip. Our waitress was terrific—you might say she serve us long time. So I asked another waiter, who was also Asian, if he knew how much 18 percent of $24.07 is.
“He just gave me this blank stare and said, ‘I don’t know, I go to Juilliard.’ That’s an arts school, for the Factor listeners out there. I replied, ‘Okay, but you probably have to know math really well to play the cello, right?’
“The kid gives me a funny look and says, ‘The correct tip would be eighteen dollars, Mr. O’Reilly.’ That sounds a little high, but what do I know about math: I’m Irish and he’s Asian. So I left an eighteen-dollar tip. Sure enough, I find out later that eighteen percent of $24.07 is not eighteen dollars. I thought maybe he was just rounding up to make it easier, but eighteen dollars was more than three times what I should have left.
“It just goes to show how stereotypes can mislead us, because Asian college students can be just as stupid as other college kids. Next time I need to calculate a tip, I’ll use a calculator or ask one of my Jewish friends.”
O’Reilly then went on to discuss his trip home.
“I hailed a cab, and as soon as I see the driver’s last name is Wong, I start thinking, this is going to be a Wong drive. But I’ve never seen such driving. He got me to the office in record time, without coming close to causing an accident or backing up traffic. I told him at the end, ‘Wong, you’re all right!’
“I learned more about Asian guys in one day than I had learned in my whole life.”
Kelly Cho-Meyers, head of the Asians Against Stereotyping and Slander (AASS), said that Mr. O’Reilly’s logic “doesn’t add up.”
“It puts Asian Americans on the spot when people assume we can naturally solve for x or break boards with our bare hands,” said Ms. Cho-Meyers. “If he thinks we're all good at math, I’d like to show that blue-eyed white devil my checkbook.”
Mr. O’Reilly did not take very kindly to the criticism. “My attempt to point out stereotypes has been undermined by limp-wristed, freedom-hating liberals. When I say black people can eat without swearing, Asians can drive as well as I can, or American Indians can have last names that sound like normal last names, I’m fighting racism.
“Now we need to put this racist nonsense behind us,” O’Reilly continued, “and talk about real problems, like those dirty illegals darkening our fair country.”
6 comments:
The sad part is I had to spend a good deal of time deciding whether this was a parody.
Same here, Snag.
everything is always out of context with Bill.........
poor bill the world is against him while he is trying to save the world one racist comment at a time
nice one CJSD
The iced tea comment is what really sent it into the comedy stratosphere. It's like he expected everyone to be talking like Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.
I love the out of context comment, too, when Media Matters quotes whole sections of his radio transcript.
Distributorcap, I need to add you to the blog roll.
I agree with everyone else. I couldn't tell if this was a parody or not. You done good, Brando.
Thank God he didn't eat at an Italian restaurant or a Japanese place.
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