Common Controversy Showdown Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly. ABC’s Sara Just reports: Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, and Fox host Bill O’Reilly, don’t see eye to eye on much, including the recent invitation by the White House to the rapper Common to appear at a poetry event.
Stewart and O’Reilly clashed over this issue last night on Fox, with O’Reilly charging that the White House’s invitation to the rapper was improper because of a song he wrote 11 years ago about a fugitive convicted of murdering a state trooper in 1973.
The rapper’s appearance at an evening of poetry at the White House caused some dust up last week with some conservatives, including Karl Rove and Sarah Palin, expressing outrage. O’Reilly shared that outrage last night on Fox.
"I am saying that when a president invites someone, in this case the First Lady, the resume has to be put in front of them and they have to select someone who is almost unimpeachable," O'Reilly charged.
“He’s not celebrating the killing but someone unjustly charged,” Stewart argued about the controversial song.
“Bob Dylan wrote a song about a convicted killer named Hurricane Carter. He’s been to the White House. Why are you drawing the line at Common? There is a selective outrage machine here at Fox.” Stewart said.
Stewart argued that by O’Reilly’s standard, any musician who has written a song about people convicted of murder – including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bono and Bruce Springsteen couldn’t be guests at the White House.
"Uou know songs are not all literal right? When The Weather Girls sing, 'It's Raining Men' it's not really precipitation of males. It's a metaphor."
Despite, the debate over the rapper at the White House controversy, O'Reilly and Stewart did have something of a lovefest on the program.
O'Reilly told Stewart, "The thing I like about you is you do take cheap shots all the time, but you defend those cheap shots."
And Stewart told O'Reilly earlier in the interview, "You know I dont want to be wrong whenI come on your program - because you know i've got 'mad love' for you. That's a rap phrase."