ASSOCIATED PRESS: NPR has fired longtime news analyst Juan Williams, also a commentator on the Fox News Channel, after he told Bill O’Reilly that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane. In a statement late Wednesday, National Public Radio said it was terminating Williams’ contract as a senior news analyst over his comments on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor.” NPR executives had previously complained about his remarks on Fox, including saying first lady Michelle Obama could be a liability for her husband shortly after his inauguration. The latest comments came Monday, when O’Reilly brought on guests to discuss his own appearance last week on ABC’s “The View,” during which Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set to protest his views on Muslims. “Where am I going wrong here, Juan?” O’Reilly asked. Williams, 56, responded that too much political correctness can get in the way of reality. “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,” Williams 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 are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.” MORE
PHAWKER: Juan Williams was the Clarence Thomas of NPR and the faux-liberal shoeshine boy of Fox News.
RELATED: NPR, if it had the ounce of integrity and fairness that it incessantly brags about, should have dumped Williams a long time ago for his equally great offense. And that’s his two-decade con job as a liberal, civil rights expert and even supporter. Williams was a fraud. That was more than apparent in the clashes that I had with him on Fox when he instantly assumed the requisite attack dog role and jumped all over any criticism made of some of the dumbest inanities from black conservatives. That was a consistent pattern with Williams. Front himself off as a Dr. Jekyll moderate, thoughtful, and balanced commentator who strives for fair and accurate analysis of issues on NPR. And then quickly transform himself into a raving take-no-prisoner right-leaning Mr. Hyde on Fox, bashing Obama, civil rights leaders, and shilling the GOP line on race. But Williams couldn’t have gotten away with this con job without the wink and nod complicity of NPR — maybe the better word is disingenuousness. NPR officials certainly were not clueless about Williams’ ruse. There he was for all to see, shaking and nodding his head in agreement with every conservative flack that paraded across the stage on the O’Reilly show and other conservative gab fests on Fox. His confrontational hit style on Fox fit in neatly with the tone, temper and rabid right echo chamber of the network. No, NPR knew exactly what Williams represented and stood for, and it was not balance, moderation, and certainly not liberalism. Williams, though, served a purpose for NPR. The networks has sweated for years and at times have been scared stiff by the conservative hit pack that’s had the network squarely in its sights, keeping a hawk like watch for any hint of a “liberal bias.” Williams was their answer, and in some ways their protective cover. After all, how could a guy who routinely flashes across Fox be accused of spouting liberal biased views on NPR? MORE
BUZZ BISSINGER: Why can’t anyone speak the fucking truth? Williams is right–we do get nervous. It doesn’t mean we hate Muslims...if memory serves me, several Muslims, admittedly extremist, did blow up fucking twin towers. Maybe NPR shd make them honorary sponsors…Better yet, Npr shd give out cups with 9-11 terrorists on them during their fucking non-stop pledge drives. MORE