Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was a rather staunch supporter of Florida’s book ban laws enacted by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). That is until two of his own books were temporarily removed from the Escambia County School District — pending further investigation.
“It’s absurd. Preposterous,” the disgraced conservative pundit told Newsweek on Friday, adding that he’ll “find out exactly who made the decisions … [and] put their pictures on television and on my website … and I’m going to ask them for a detailed explanation of why they did that.”
His “Killing Jesus: A History” and “Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency” were reportedly among 1,600 titles pulled to adhere to Florida’s HB 1069 bill. Enacted in July, it purportedly aims to restrict sexual content from being taught in schools.
The law has since been accused of massive overreach, however, after the Florida Freedom to Read Project released a list Thursday of affected titles that include “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” dictionaries, “Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl,” and other essential works.
A spokesperson for the district told The Pensacola News Journal that O’Reilly’s books aren’t permanently banned but are under review “to ensure compliance.” O’Reilly, who appeared indifferent to prior casualties of the broadly applied law, is now naturally aghast.
“When DeSantis signed the book law, I supported the theme because there was abuse going on in Florida,” he told Newsweek. “There were far-left progressive people trying to impose an agenda on children, there’s no doubt about it.”
The former “O’Reilly Factor” host, who was forced off the air in 2017 after a New York Times report revealed that he settled a sexual harassment claim for $32 million, told Newsweek that “the state has an obligation to protect children.”
“But the wording of the law was far too nebulous … So, that law needs to be tightened up,” he added, “DeSantis needs to come out publicly and say, ‘this is insane, we’re not going to cooperate with this and we’re going to investigate the people who did it.’”
Representatives for DeSantis did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
O’Reilly also took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote: “This will not stand.” He presumably hasn’t noticed that most users are mocking his newfound indignation — as it only arrived after he was victimized by something he had supported.
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