Bill O'Reilly: Slaves That Built White House Were 'Well-Fed'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Bill O'Reilly says the slaves who helped build the White House "were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government."
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The Fox News commentator was responding to first lady Michelle Obama's remarks in her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, when she praised social progress in the United States.
"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," Mrs. Obama said. "And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn."
O'Reilly said on his show Tuesday that "Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well."
O'Reilly's comments have drawn criticism on social media.
Bill O'Reilly was using that old white supremacist logic that slavemasters actually SAVED Africans by enslaving them and giving them food
— Tariq Nasheed ???????? (@tariqnasheed) July 27, 2016
Pretty sure Bill O'Reilly would also claim white people helped with picking cotton on plantations by providing "firm management."
— Warren Holstein (@WarrenHolstein) July 27, 2016
I get the sense O'Reilly secretly wishes he could have been a slave owner. Those were the days.
— Laura Wants to Punch American Nazis Hume (@LeftyRosie) July 27, 2016
O'Reilly had not responded to the criticism as of Wednesday morning.
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