When Bill O’Reilly was drummed out of Fox News amid a furor over his harassment of women, a lot of people wondered, “Why did it take so long?” After all, Fox News coughed up millions of dollars in settlements to O’Reilly’s accusers–thus tacitly admitting that there was a there there.
So how did O’Reilly keep his job? Well, we may have gotten an answer a few days after his ouster, when black conservative pastor and radio host Jesse Lee Peterson denounced his ouster as yet another effort by “the children of the lie” to bring down a man with a sterling history of fighting for good. Peterson was speaking in code. When he refers to the “children of the lie,” he’s referring to liberals. Apparently in his world, we have to consider the political leanings of someone who claims to have been harassed before we decide whether to believe them.
On Monday afternoon, the producer of Peterson’s radio show, James Hake, reached out to me on Facebook to set up a time where Peterson and I could talk about this issue. At the time, I really hoped I’d heard Peterson wrong. Unfortunately, it looks like I heard what I originally thought I heard. It turned out that roughly 22 hours before Hake buzzed me, his boss tweeted this.
The lynching of Bill O’Reilly https://t.co/9R0OoRrEg9 via @worldnetdaily #BillOreilly #Oreilly #FoxNews #Maga #Fakenews
— Jesse Lee Peterson (@JLPtalk) April 23, 2017
In his latest column at WorldNetDaily, Peterson claimed that “even Stevie Wonder can see” that the allegations against O’Reilly were bogus. What was his evidence? Drum roll, please–he accusers are being represented by Lisa Bloom, whom Peterson derisively calls a “feminist attorney.”
For those who missed it, Bloom masterminded a concerted effort to bring O’Reilly’s debauchery into the spotlight and encourage more accusers to come forward. Peterson noted that Bloom’s mother, Gloria Allred, represents a number of women who claim Donald Trump sexually harassed them, and emphasizes that Allred is a “Hillary Clinton supporter.”
The message is obvious–since O’Reilly’s accusers are represented by an open and unashamed liberal whose mother is a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter, they can’t possibly be telling the truth. No, no–they cooked up these allegations in an effort to bring down a “a straight, white, powerful, Christian man who had the backbone and decency to treat Donald Trump fairly.”
Sadly, it looks like my initial hunch was right. In Peterson’s world, when anyone accuses a prominent conservative of sexually harassment, we must ask about the accuser’s political leanings and the political leanings of those representing the accuser before we decide whether the accuser is telling the truth. For any public figure to say this is outrageous and degrading. For a man who calls himself a pastor to say it is simply incomprehensible. Let’s call this for what it is–victim shaming.
From the looks of it, Peterson’s column is a continuation of the sermon he delivered at his weekly church service a few hours before his WND column went live. Watch a clip here.
Peterson claimed that the spirit inside liberal “children of the lie” really, really, really hates powerful and secure men of power–an extension of their hatred of the spirit of God. He slammed Allred as “a far-left liberal attorney” who has dug women “up out of hell” to destroy men of power. He recalled that there was an area in Jerusalem called “the gates of hell,” and mused that Allred was “the overseer of that gate.”
Peterson claimed that the attacks on men of power were part of “a spiritual battle.” He told his audience that those who see things through their natural nature won’t recognize it, but those who identify with “your Father’s nature that’s made a home inside of you” will see it as a battle of “good versus evil.” He believed that if the “children of the lie” succeed in eliminating white Christian men of power, society is done for. After all, he said, they are the only ones keeping this country going.
He railed that liberals really don’t care about sexual harassment because Bill Clinton is still revered by the left. He forgets, though, that Clinton admitted cheating on Hillary, and expressed regret for having done so.
If Peterson and Hake happen to read this, they probably think I gave Clinton a pass because he’s a Democrat. However, I’d like to remind them that for a time, I went a little easier on Josh Duggar than many liberal bloggers when it emerged that he’d fondled and molested a number of girls during his teen years–including his own sisters. Josh had the decency to admit what he did, and for that reason I gave him a good deal of credit.
That changed, however, when it emerged that he’d swiped the pictures of innocent men to cheat on his wife that I turned on him. It had nothing to do with him being a white conservative man of power. It had everything to do with a self-absorbed jerk who put innocent men’s reputations in danger just to get a little satisfaction. Likewise, O’Reilly didn’t get bounced from Fox News because he was a white conservative man of power. He got bounced because someone encouraged his accusers to come out of the shadows. And one of the very people who should be lifting these women up is instead kicking them in the teeth–and a few other places.
There is something fundamentally wrong when standing up for victims of sexual harassment has become a partisan issue. Any public figure who takes that line has no moral authority to speak about anything at all. And any pastor who takes that line has disqualified himself from serving as a pastor.
As one black man to another, Jesse Lee, I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with the term “disgrace to the race.” After all, you’re turning 68 next month. By suggesting that O’Reilly’s accusers shouldn’t be believed because they are represented by liberal lawyers, you, sir, have revealed yourself to be a disgrace to the race–both the black race and the human race as a whole–several times over.
(featured image courtesy BOND’s Facebook)
