“Ridiculous.”
There you have it — Bill O’Reilly’s verdict on the warning by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo that her city may sue Fox News.
O’Reilly, Fox’s highest-rated host, addressed the lawsuit threat on the Tuesday night edition of his program. It was the day’s only mention of the threat on Fox.
Among O’Reilly’s points:
–“The mayor is a socialist.”
–“Fox News isn’t even seen in France, because they block it.”
–“This is just an attention-getter.”
O’Reilly accused Hidalgo of “playing to the left” and added, “The suit’s going nowhere. It’s ridiculous.”
On Tuesday Hidalgo told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Fox News had “insulted” her city through repetitive coverage of supposed “no-go” zones for non-Muslims in Paris and elsewhere in Europe. She said, “I think we’ll have to sue.”
“The image of Paris has been prejudiced, and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced,” Hidalgo said.
The “no-go” zone idea has been largely discredited and French media outlets have had a field day with Fox’s coverage.
And O’Reilly pointedly said on Tuesday night that “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
Then he went after Hidalgo.
His guest, media analyst Bernie Goldberg, said, “I don’t know what the laws are in France. If this were in America, it would be called a frivolous lawsuit… Anybody can sue anybody, but a city can’t win a lawsuit because it’s been insulted.”
“Right. And we didn’t even insult it,” O’Reilly said.
“Well, somebody did,” Goldberg responded.
Earlier on Tuesday, Fox News executive vice president Michael Clemente called the potential lawsuit “misplaced.”
“We empathize with the citizens of France as they go through a healing process and return to everyday life,” he said. “However, we find the mayor’s comments regarding a lawsuit misplaced.”
Outside legal analysts have largely dismissed the likelihood that a lawsuit would succeed.