An All-White Male Fox News Panel Decided White Privilege Exists — With One Horrible Caveat
Three white men walk onto a panel about white privilege — stop me if you've heard this one.
On the June 21 edition of the O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly facilitated a discussion about white privilege between him and two other guests — both white men.
"We all have discussed white privilege — that is, because you're white, everything comes easy to you in life, and all of that," O'Reilly said at the beginning of the segment.
After airing a short clip from a satirical YouTube video featuring two black men talking about white privilege, O'Reilly turned to his guest, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, who said, "I do believe white privilege exists but so does black privilege, Asian privilege, Arab privilege."
There's probably a good reason why Gutfled didn't go on to explain what he meant by "black privilege," "Asian privilege" or "Arab privilege." Like reverse racism, those three don't exist.
But according to Gutfeld, one form of privilege supersedes all others.
"But the biggest privilege of all," Gutfeld said, "is hot privilege."
"No matter what race you are, if you're hot, you always win," Gutfeld said. "David Duke would give his left arm to sleep with Beyoncé." David Duke is a known white supremacist and former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
Gutfeld seems to be confusing the societal benefits that come with being hot with actual privilege, which means the world is designed in a way that benefits you. He's probably also unaware that Western standards of beauty are actually based on whiteness. So, when he talks about "hot privilege" he actually is talking about white privilege.
O'Reilly's second guest, executive producer of Imus in the Morning Bernard McGuirk, makes some snide remarks about white people having a "Congressional White Caucus" and a "White Lives Matter" movement.
McGuirk asked those watching to go to Appalachia and ask people living in poverty how well they're doing. McGuirk was trying to use poverty among White Americans to dismiss white privilege, ignoring ways that privilege still affects white people living in poverty.
McGuirk then pivoted and said that people need to stop being lazy to succeed in America.
"Listen Bill, if you wake up in the country, delay gratification, work hard, lose the chip on your shoulder, that's all it takes," McGuirk said. "You hit the lottery so big time when you're born in this country, no matter what class, what strata, if you work hard."
As the segment drew to a close, the hosts descended into a series of jokes and shrugs over white privilege.
"Isn't it boring — this is a serious point — this white privilege and black lives matter. Isn't this boring?" O'Reilly asked.
"Talk about people who are short. They have it tough, Bill," Gutfeld said. "You have tall privilege and I'm sick and tired of your tall, arrogant privilege."
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