Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was a relatively staunch supporter of Florida’s guide ban legal guidelines enacted by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). That is till two of his personal books had been quickly faraway from the Escambia County School District — pending additional investigation.
“It’s absurd. Preposterous,” the disgraced conservative pundit instructed Newsweek on Friday, including 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” had been reportedly amongst 1,600 titles pulled to stick to Florida’s HB 1069 invoice. Enacted in July, it purportedly goals to limit sexual content material from being taught in colleges.
The regulation has since been accused of huge overreach, nevertheless, after the Florida Freedom to Read Project launched an inventory Thursday of affected titles that embody “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” dictionaries, “Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl,” and different important works.
A spokesperson for the district instructed The Pensacola News Journal that O’Reilly’s books aren’t completely banned however are below assessment “to ensure compliance.” O’Reilly, who appeared detached to prior casualties of the broadly utilized regulation, is now naturally aghast.
“When DeSantis signed the book law, I supported the theme because there was abuse going on in Florida,” he instructed 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 compelled off the air in 2017 after a New York Times report revealed that he settled a sexual harassment declare for $32 million, instructed 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 didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
O’Reilly additionally took to X, previously Twitter, and wrote: “This will not stand.” He presumably hasn’t seen that most customers are mocking his newfound indignation — because it solely arrived after he was victimized by one thing he had supported.
