NPR Fires Juan Williams After O'Reilly Appearance

Published October 21, 2010

National Public Radio fired Fox News contributor Juan Williams on Wednesday after a Monday night appearance in which Williams said that it makes him nervous to fly on airplanes with devout Muslims.

Williams was terminated following a discussion with "O'Reilly Factor" host Bill O'Reilly on the dilemma between fighting jihadists and fears about average Muslims.

"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country," Williams said.

"But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous," Williams said.

Williams also commented on remarks by Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad warning Americans that the fight is coming to the U.S.

This undated photo released by SeniorNet shows NPR news analyst Juan Williams. NPR News says that it has terminated the contract of Williams after remarks he made about Muslims on The O'Reilly Factor. (AP)

This undated photo released by SeniorNet shows NPR news analyst Juan Williams. NPR News says that it has terminated the contract of Williams after remarks he made about Muslims on The O'Reilly Factor. (AP)

"He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts," Williams said.

NPR issued a statement saying that it was "terminating" Williams' contract over the remarks.

"Tonight we gave Juan Williams notice that we are terminating his contract as a senior news analyst for NPR News," CEO Vivian Schiller and Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss said in a statement.

"Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years and we did not make this decision lightly or without regret. However, his remarks on 'The O'Reilly Factor' this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR," they said. "We regret these circumstances and thank Juan Williams for his many years of service to NPR and public radio."

Williams said Thursday he wasn't given the chance to have a face-to-face conversation with his superiors at NPR before he was let go.

Recalling a conversation with NPR's head of news, Williams said he was told, "This has been decided up the chain."

"I said, 'I don't even get the chance to come in and we do this eyeball to eyeball, person to person and have a conversation. I've been there more than 10 years. We don't have a chance to have a conversation about this.' And she said, 'There's nothing you can say that will change my mind. This has been decided above me and we're terminating your contract,'" Williams recounted to Fox News.

Williams said that he meant exactly what he said about his fears during his appearance on O'Reilly's show.

"I do a double take. I have a moment of anxiety of fear given what happened on 9/11. That's just a reality," he said, noting that when he told his former boss, she suggested that Williams had made a bigoted statement.

"It's not a bigoted statement. In fact, in the course of this conversation with Bill O'Reilly, I said we have an obligation as Americans to be careful to protect the constitutional rights of everyone in our country and to make sure that we don't have any outbreak of bigotry. but that there's a reality. You can not ignore what happened on 9/11 and you cannot ignore the connection to Islamic radicalism, and you can't ignore the fact of what has even recently been said in court with regard to this is the first drop of blood in a Muslim war in America."

Watch Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" at 8 pm ET Thursday night for an interview with Juan Williams.

The conversation on O'Reilly's show stemmed from a well-publicized argument the previous week between O'Reilly and "The View" hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, who walked off their own set when O'Reilly said, "Muslims killed us on 9/11."

The comment had been an explanation by O'Reilly why the majority of Americans don't want a mosque housed in an Islamic cultural center built near Ground Zero.

The women, who argued that Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh wasn't a Muslim, returned after O'Reilly said that he was -- perhaps inartfully -- talking about Muslim extremists.

The conversation has been fodder for both shows. Goldberg appeared Wednesday night on "On the Record With Greta Van Susteren," and said when she cursed at O'Reilly on air -- a word that was bleeped for broadcast -- she knew she was beyond reason and had to leave.

"He wasn't thoughtful and he knew he wasn't thoughtful and once he said, 'if I offended someone I apologize' ... it showed me that he recognized it," she said.

"But he knew that for us it was not ok. ... He got what he wanted and I don't feel bad about doing it. Should I have sat and just bit my tongue? I don't think I could because it was too much like all the things I heard about black folks and women," Goldberg said, adding that she has no hard feelings and planned to appear on O'Reilly's show in a few weeks..

Williams, a liberal African American commentator who has written extensively on civil rights in America, previously got in trouble with NPR for comments he made while appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor" in February 2009. At that time, he described first lady Michelle Obama as having a "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going."

Carmichael was a black activist in the 1960s who coined the phrase "Black Power."

After the Carmichael quote, Williams' position at NPR was changed from staff correspondent to national analyst.

why are we funding NPR? I don't understand why i should be forced to pay for that

So now it's wrong to have an opinion. The guy is nervous, it's an uncontrollable feeling, what is he supposed to do? Where's the ACLU?

(10-21-2010 12:06 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Where's the ACLU?

Probably celebrating.

Last voice of sanity at NPR, please turn the lights off when you leave. That's your cue, Juan.

I can see a new show with him as the voice of leftward balance on Fox.

But if I were in charge of balancing the federal budget, public broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, and especially National Endowment for the Humanities, would be my first targets. It's not much money relative to the whole budget, but it's money we don't need to be spending.

(10-21-2010 12:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I can see a new show with him as the voice of leftward balance on Fox.

But if I were in charge of balancing the federal budget, public broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, and especially National Endowment for the Humanities, would be my first targets. It's not much money relative to the whole budget, but it's money we don't need to be spending.

You've just un-employed 75% of liberal elites.

(10-21-2010 01:05 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(10-21-2010 12:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I can see a new show with him as the voice of leftward balance on Fox.

But if I were in charge of balancing the federal budget, public broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, and especially National Endowment for the Humanities, would be my first targets. It's not much money relative to the whole budget, but it's money we don't need to be spending.

You've just un-employed 75% of liberal elites.

Well, they would get unemployment benefits for almost ever, thanks to the still employed liberal elites.

(10-21-2010 01:05 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(10-21-2010 12:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I can see a new show with him as the voice of leftward balance on Fox.

But if I were in charge of balancing the federal budget, public broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, and especially National Endowment for the Humanities, would be my first targets. It's not much money relative to the whole budget, but it's money we don't need to be spending.

You've just un-employed 75% of liberal elites.

Good.

I'd get the rest of them by replacing the current myriad of welfare programs with something like Milton Friedman's negative income tax or the Boortz-Linder prefund (conceptually, they're the same).

I've always believed that the world would be a better place if possession of a sociology degree were a capital offense. We can't really kill them, but if we can unemploy all of them that would be a considerable improvement.

(10-21-2010 02:53 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I've always believed that the world would be a better place if possession of a sociology degree were a capital offense.

+1

Quote: We can't really kill them, but if we can unemploy all of them that would be a considerable improvement.

Ok, that's +2!

Since I assume that NPR's audience consists primarily of leftists, NPR really cannot $$afford$$ (pledge drive, ahem)to offend its base very much.

(10-21-2010 03:27 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Since I assume that NPR's audience consists primarily of leftists, NPR really cannot $$afford$$ (pledge drive, ahem)to offend its base very much.

Since I assume leftists aren't particularly bright, I think it's like 1984 and they could change their agenda mid-sentence, and the listeners would just keep nodding in agreement.

(10-21-2010 11:34 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  why are we funding NPR? I don't understand why i should be forced to pay for that

This would be just another item on a list longer than I could describe of the things I oppose being stolen from to fund.

A strong defense...a good justice system and infrastructure....I will gladly voluntarily help pay for these things.

George Soros just gave NPR $1.8 million. Coincidence?

Is anyone NOT going to watch the O'Reily tonight?

(10-21-2010 05:32 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Is anyone NOT going to watch the O'Reily tonight?

A rare occurrence for me, but yes, I am watching.

(10-21-2010 05:32 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Is anyone NOT going to watch the O'Reily tonight?

I don't have CaTV.

(10-21-2010 12:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I can see a new show with him as the voice of leftward balance on Fox.

But if I were in charge of balancing the federal budget, public broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, and especially National Endowment for the Humanities, would be my first targets. It's not much money relative to the whole budget, but it's money we don't need to be spending.

Today Fox News Channel signed Juan to a 3 year, $2 million deal.

Quote: "But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous," Williams said.

Many people have the same reaction, but the truth of the matter, if anyone ever screams "Allah Akbar" on an airliner again, the screamer will probably lose several teeth, suffer a broken jaw, and be knocked unconscious within 45 seconds.

(10-21-2010 08:20 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  , and be knocked unconscious within 45 seconds.

You think it will take that long?