Many online criticized Stewart’s decision to invite O’Reilly on her show. Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who sued Fox News CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment in 2016, called the decision “incredibly egregious…The fact that O’Reilly is back on the show perpetuates the idea that bad men get kicked back and brave women continue to be punished.” Journalist Yashar Ali wrote that “there is no reason to give O’Reilly his show” unless he is asked about the allegations against him.
The allegations were not addressed on Tuesday night’s show, but O’Reilly said he and Stewart “can overcome our differences without hating each other,” before joking, “I really dislike him, but I don’t show it.” Stewart responded, “You’re holding it in well.”
The topics of Tuesday night’s show were the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday and political polarization in the United States. The show was originally scheduled to broadcast from Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention is being held this week, but returned to its New York studios after the shooting, according to “The Daily Show.” Stewart said Tuesday night that increased security at the convention had made it difficult to host a live audience.
O’Reilly criticized “The View” for centering its coverage on the fact that the shooter at Trump’s rally was a Republican.
“Look, you and I are both kind of fossil practitioners of the art of rhetoric, which is sometimes confrontational and sometimes provocative,” Stewart responded, “and we’ve made a really great living by pushing the boundaries of that, and now it seems like other people are saying we should stop… Isn’t the argument that we should start debating each other in good faith?”
O’Reilly defended criticism and “lively debate” in politics, but said the “difference” was that “fanatics on the left and right want to see their opponents destroyed, they want to hurt them.”
Stewart said he did not disagree with O’Reilly’s comments, but argued there was “a belief on the right that they don’t do that, that it’s the province of the left”.
“How can we have a conversation about rhetoric if we can’t even agree, and there’s this delusion of, ‘Is it really just them?'” Stewart added.
The pair also traded sarcastic comments during the show, with O’Reilly mentioning his “job as a journalist” to which Stewart replied, “Yeah, when did you get that job?”
They also debated Biden’s and Trump’s presidential track records, with O’Reilly listing economic and social problems that he blamed on Biden, while Stewart blamed Trump for the huge budget deficit and heavy tax spending. Stewart also mocked O’Reilly’s comment that Trump’s actions during the January 6 riots “have haunted him every day since,” and disagreed with O’Reilly’s statement that Trump would have had a large lead in the polls otherwise.
O’Reilly and Stewart have clashed frequently over the years, most notably over issues of white privilege in 2014 following the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer.
