New York – Veteran journalist Juan Williams was fired from his job as senior news analyst for National Public Radio late Wednesday because of comments he made about Muslims and terrorism on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel.
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NPR said in a statement that Williams’s remarks–including that he gets “worried” and “nervous” when he sees people dressed in Muslim-style clothing on airplanes–“were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
Williams, 56, made the remarks after the show’s host, Bill O’Reilly, asked him whether he thought the United States was facing a “Muslim dilemma.” “The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet,” O’Reilly said.
Williams, who is African American and writes and speaks frequently on race, told O’Reilly that he agreed with his assessment.
“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,” he 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 then brought up a statement made in a New York courtroom this month by Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who pleaded guilty to trying to detonate a bomb in Times Square and was sentenced to life in prison.
“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.
Juan Williams’ political analysis on NPR. got canned for telling Bill O’Reilly in the below video that he gets nervous when he sees Muslims on his plane:
That shows objectivity. NPR has presented Muslims who defamed Israel and Jews on the air without blinking an eye. Juan Williams who made some incisive comments on geopolitics is fired
The biggest racists here are the management at NPR. They do not allow for any diversity of opinion. Juan Williams should get his own show and a big raise at FOX.
This is really sick. Juan Williams is Not at all a bigot, not right wing by any stretch, He is a moderate, Center/Left guy just stating the obvious and giving his personal opinion, for this he gets fired? Shut down NPR-they are the racist anti-semites, 100% of their Israel coverage is pro-Palestinian garbage.
Wow. A well-known liberal gets fired in a burst of political correctness. Of course, if folks are honest, most of them will be very hard-pressed to actually disagree with the statement that got Williams fired. I suppose it was easier for NPR to fire him than it would have been for them to respond to his point.
What a chutzpah, even though Juan leans more to the liberal side on issues I still liked him. He should get his job back he’s a real Mentch.
How apropos, and right now…when NPR is running their beg-a-thon for money. Yet ANOTHER reason not to give to them.
If only Mr. Williams had made anti-Jewish remarks, he would have received a raise and a promotion.
Best thing to happen to NPr. tHIS FAR LEFTIE IS ONE OF THE MOST biased OF ALL THE COMMENTAORS. Several weeks ago, he said the only people who would vote for a certain bill are old white men.
The man is a disgrace, and doesn’t warrant being n any TV show.
Juan is a brilliant analyst and columnist, even if I do not agree with him much of the time. NPR letting him go is a cut-off-the-nose-to-spite-the-face move. He will land a similar punditry position elsewhere in the near future but NPR has just lost a valuable voice of reason in their left-pegged range of talking heads.
Juan Williams was caught in Liberal democrat workers party hypocrisy. Remember, it was OK for Barry Hussein Obama to say that his poor gran’ma was a typical white person & afraid of blacks. It was also Ok for the reverend jackson to say that if he heard footsteps behind him at night he would be relieved to see it was a white person. But go say something about the muslims yemach sh’mom v’zichrom on Fox or on The View & all g’henim breaks loose?!?!?
PC is the problem!
NPR’s news coverage is fair to average most of the time. It doesn’t hold a candle to Fox News. I’m glad that Juan Williams stuck up for O’Reilly; further, I’m glad that O’Reilly gave it to Joy Behar and Whoopie Goldberg.