FILE- This undated photo released by SeniorNet shows NPR news analyst Juan Williams. NPR News says that it has terminated the contract of Williams after remarks he made about Muslims on The O'Reilly Factor. (AP Photo/SeniorNet, File)
Juan Williams was fired from NPR Wednesday over comments he made on The O’Reilly Factor.
Appearing on Bill O’Reilly’s nightly Fox show, Juan Williams was asked for his thoughts on the U.S.’s problem with Muslims.
Juan Williams responded with: “Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the 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.”
That led NPR to terminate his position with the news outlet. In a press release, NPR said: “His remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”
Juan Williams did go on to tell O’Reilly not to blame all Muslims for the acts of extremists.
The incident comes less than a week after O’Reilly appeared on The View and directly blamed Muslims for the 9/11 attacks, prompting Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to leave the set.
Juan Williams, in addition to his work for NPR, frequently appears as a political commentator on Fox.
