Juan Williams fired by NPR over comments made on O'Reilly

Posted: Oct 21, 2010 12:35 PM by Greg Boyce

WASHINGTON (AP) - The conversation was about Bill O'Reilly's dust up with the women of "The View" -- but it's now cost news analyst Juan Williams his job at NPR.
Appearing Monday on O'Reilly's show on the Fox News Channel, Williams suggested that "The View" incident, in which Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in protest of O'Reilly's views on Muslims, was an example of political correctness getting in the way of reality. Williams went on to say he gets "nervous" when he sees people wearing "Muslim garb" boarding a plane with him.

The comments drew criticism from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and yesterday NPR said Williams' words had undermined his credibility and were "inconsistent" with its editorial standards. Conservatives have been defending Williams. On his "Red State" blog, Erick Erickson says Williams just stated feelings shared by many Americans, adding that his work shows "he is no bigot." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tells Fox News that Congress should investigate NPR for censorship and consider cutting off its public funding.

NPR executives have complained about Williams' Fox appearances in the past and asked him to stop using the NPR name on the cable news channel.