During his “Talking Points Memo” segment, O’Reilly said the free speech issue is not the real issue at hand, but rather whether the art contest was “the right thing to do.” O’Reilly also argued that Jesus “would not have sponsored that event.”
“The dead men deserved what they got,” O’Reilly said. “But the incident was ignited by a contest featuring cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. Any depiction of that Islamic icon is a sin in the Muslim world.”
“Many Americans believe the provocation was legitimate under freedom of speech, but that is not the issue,” the host contended. “No one I know favors curtailing speech in this case. The real issue is whether the exposition was the right thing to do.”