Bill O'Reilly says it's Biden's fault he threw a shit fit at JFK after his flight was delayed

[Celerity]

The former Fox News host called an airline worker a “scumbag” and threatened to have him fired.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/bill-oreilly-jfk-jetblue-meltdown



As you’ve probably heard by now, incidents of travellers abusing airline employees have skyrocketed over the last couple of years, likely due to a combination of hysterical anti-mask sentiment and people forgetting how to interact with other humans during the pandemic. Roughly 85% of flight attendants surveyed said they had to deal with a disruptive passenger in 2021, and 17% said they’d been physically assaulted, according to a December report from ABC News. And in a not-at-all surprising turn of events, former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is among the segment of the population that apparently thinks it’s appropriate to verbally attack airline workers because he was temporarily inconvenienced.

Yes, the ex–The O’Reilly Factor host, best known for insulting his own guests and cutting their mics before he was fired in 2017 amidst a sexual harassment scandal, was caught on camera berating an airline employee at JFK earlier this month because his flight to Turks and Caicos was delayed. (O’Reilly has denied the sexual misconduct claims, despite he and his former employer paying out about $13 million in settlements over the years.) The airport incident was reportedly filmed on April 3 and made its way to Twitter this week.

In the video, O’Reilly can be heard asking a staffer in front of a JetBlue counter: “We need to know what you’re gonna do, it’s three hours late now.” When the worker responds, O’Reilly, pointing his finger in the guy’s face, says, “No, no, no, you’re going to find out.” He then leans in to get a closer look at the man’s name tag and says, “You’re lucky I don’t put my fist through it.” It’s unclear what the employee says next, but O’Reilly tells him, “You fucking scumbag, don’t talk to me like that.” When the worker informs O’Reilly that he is clearly “threatening” him ”with violence,” the former Fox host says, “No, I’m not. You’re the one—I dare you? I dare you? Is that what you said to me?” The notorious hothead then tells the guy, “you’re going to lose your job,” before walking off.

Link to tweet

On Tuesday, O’Reilly tweeted, “the character assassins on social media [are] completely lying about my interaction with a JetBlue guy who misled passengers during a five-hour delay…. I expected this.” Speaking to Mediaite, O’Reilly acknowledged that he handled the situation “poorly” and could have used different words but refused to apologize to the man he verbally abused. He claimed that numerous people, upon recognizing him, asked him about the holdup to their flight. He also insisted that the heat on him is a distraction from the real story, which is the subpar job airlines like JetBlue are doing. “The story is JetBlue can’t get their flights off the ground. It was crazy in the terminal,” O’Reilly said. (According to Mediaite, O’Reilly has been covering the alleged “mistreatment” of passengers, not airline workers, over the last several months.) Then, O’Reilly somehow managed to blame his behaviour on the Biden administration. “For some reason, the Biden administration is not big on solving problems. This is a huge problem,” he told Mediaite, saying he’s invited spokespeople from JetBlue to come on his podcast but has not heard back. (JetBlue did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s email for comment.)

Link to tweet

snip

[SCantiGOP]

1. Have the guy fired??

I hope someone in Billo’s family will sit him down and explain to him just how much clout he has now.

[sakabatou]

2. Someone call the WAAAAHMbulence

[Blue Owl]

4. Billo can go cry into his MyPillow

[jmowreader]

3. Later on in the interaction...

“I’ll have your job, you fucking scumbag. Do you know who I am?”

“Attention in the terminal. Bill O’Reilly is at Gate 22 in Terminal 5 claiming he doesn’t know who he is. If any mental health professionals are in Terminal 5, could one proceed to Gate 22 to help him?”

“Gate 22, this is Dr. Samuel Johnson, president of the New York Mental Health Association. Mr. O’Reilly is beyond help.”

[LuckyLib]

5. I don't believe airline personnel should have to put up

with verbal abuse. Just turn and walk away. Let folks like Billo stamp their feet and scream.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

6. Remember when Bill O'Lie-ly

Assassinated the characters of the eighty-four American soldiers who died at Malmedy, slaughtered by Waffen SS troopers after they had surrendered. Bill-O REPEATEDLY asserted that it was US troops who had killed German prisoners, in a pathetic and massively dishonorable attempt to defend and normalize American abuses in Iraq. The scumbag even tried to peddle his crap to General Wesley Clark who repeatedly corrected him; he should have bashed his teeth in. Fucking scum. I’m not sure, but I don’t think he ever recanted and apologized.

[Midnight Writer]

7. Wait until the GOP gets in power and decides to allow open carry in airports and on planes.

[MissMillie]

8. Ah, yes. The "I can't behave myself. It's someone else's fault" defense

Not very original.

If he really wanted to be original, he could say, "I'm sorry. That was not called for."

(I know. That's asking too much.)

[onethatcares]

9. like the counter guy has something he can do

to end a delay.

If it were me, myself and I, I would have pressed that magic button to TSA/HSA and told the agents someone threatened the plane and pilots.

Make the delay a bit longer for him but in a good way..

[HipChick]

10. JetBlue though?

[Aristus]

11. Ladies and gentlemen: The Party Of Personal Responsibility.

At it again...

[JHB]

12. Yep. Blowhards gonna blow. Hard.

[Ilsa]

13. If he knows JetBlue has problems, why is he flying them?

Can he charter his own flight?

[Caliman73]

14. The asshole is trying to "lawyer" (sorry to the attorneys on DU) the threat he made.

He said, "You're lucky I don't put my fist through....", the employee responds, "I dare you" and tells the asshole that he was threatening violence, then the asshole tries to quibble by arguing that because he didn't say, "I am going to physically assault you by doing ..." that he wasn't threatening the employee.

Asshole says that people are trying to assassinate his character, except that he is well known for being a loudmouth, foul piece of crap who blows up in a temper tantrum when things don't go his way. That is EXACTLY his character.