Bill O’Reilly Talks of ‘Well-Fed’ Slaves That Had ‘Decent Lodgings,’ Causes Uproar

On The O’Reilly Factor Tuesday, host Bill O’Reilly took time to fact-check a portion of first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, specifically when she said, “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, intelligent, black young women — playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.”

O’Reilly started off by breaking down the different groups of people that built the White House. “Slaves did participate in the construction of the White House,” he said. “Records show about 400 payments made to slave masters between 1795 and 1801. In addition, free blacks, whites, and immigrants also worked on the massive building. There were no illegal immigrants at that time. If you could make it here, you could stay here.”

It’s what O’Reilly said next that has people particularly angered. “Slaves that worked there were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802,” he continued. “However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well.”

Backlash to O’Reilly has been swift and immediate. Powerful television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes captured the spirit of the anger with her tweet, “The idiocy never ceases to amaze me. Try slavery, Bill. Let us know how good the food is while you wear chains.”

The criticism has reached O’Reilly. He tweeted, “Far left loons distort tip about @FLOTUS statement that slaves built White House. She’s correct & I provided facts.” Are those facts really facts, though? The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple interviewed Jesse J. Holland, whose book The Invisibles covered the slave labor that was used to build the White House. Holland pointed out that slaves were lodged in barns and added, “What does ‘well-fed’ mean? When you don’t have a choice about what you eat, are you well-fed?”

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