Fox News host Bill O'Reilly fired back at critics who accused him of defending slavery, opening his show Wednesday calling them liars.
O'Reilly came under intense criticism over his closing segment Tuesday night in which he talked about first lady Michelle Obama's speech in which she noted how far the United States has come from the days that slaves built the White House to today when a black family lives there.
O'Reilly defended Michelle Obama's speech on Tuesday's show, pointing out that slaves were among the builders of the White House. But it was his line that those slaves were well-fed and cared for that led to charges from critics that he was defending the practice of slavery.
"That is a lie. I defended nothing," O'Reilly said on Wednesday, calling New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman business model "despicable."
"But reporting the story behind Mrs. Obama's very valid points does not diminish the horror of enslavement as these dishonest critics allege," O'Reilly said. "As any honest historian knows, in order to keep slaves and free laborers strong, the Washington administration provided meat, bread and other staples, and also decent lodging on the grounds of the new presidential building. That is a fact. Not a justification, not a defense of slavery."
Anyone who says he was soft on slavery is "beneath contempt," he said, adding that he has invited author Stephen King and actor Bryan Cranston on his show after they criticized him, but added he doesn't expect them to take him up on the offer.
Instead, he said, critics' goal is to take down Fox News through lies and distortion because it is winning in the ratings and is the only TV outlet giving GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump a fair hearing.
O'Reilly brought on Fox News personalities Geraldo Rivera and Eric Bolling, and suggested all Fox personalities should band together to respond to such attacks.
Rivera, while agreeing, told O'Reilly he gave critics an opening by not being extremely forceful in saying slavery was evil during his initial comments.
"It is preposterous to believe that you are soft on slavery," Rivera said. "The opening you gave them is that, like in the Holocaust, you can only speak about it in unequivocal damnation, it is horrifying, it's a stain on the human existence."
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