Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly will not apologize for calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “a killer” during an interview with U.S. President Donald Trump.
O’Reilly responded Monday on The O’Reilly Factor to a demand from a Russian government official that O’Reilly apologize for the comment.
“Apparently the Putin administration in Moscow is demanding that I, your humble correspondent, apologize for saying old Vlad is a killer. So I’m working on that apology but it may take a little time,” O’Reilly said.
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“You might want to check in with me around… 2023.”
After addressing the demand, he then played a clip of Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggesting O’Reilly apologize.
It all started in an interview that aired before Sunday’s Super Bowl, when Trump told O’Reilly that Putin deserves respect. “Will I get along with them? I have no idea,” Trump said.
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“He’s a killer, though,” O’Reilly said. “Putin’s a killer.”
“We’ve got a lot of killers,” Trump responded. “You think our country’s so innocent?”
“I don’t know of any government leaders that are killers,” The O’Reilly Factor host said.
Trump added: “Well, take a look at what we’ve done, too. We’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve been against the war in Iraq from the beginning.”
When O’Reilly insisted that “mistakes are different,” Trump stuck to his point, saying there are “a lot of killers around.”
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Peskov told reporters that the description was “unacceptable, insulting,” according to the Russian state-run news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax.
“We consider comments of that kind made by Fox News’ journalist unacceptable and offensive,” said Peskov. “And, frankly, we would like to receive an apology addressed to the president from such a respected network.”
After O’Reilly’s refusal to apologize, Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the episode showed he and O’Reilly have a different understanding of what common courtesy means, and quipped that the Kremlin would return to the matter in 2023.
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“This is a very unfortunate incident for the Fox company, at least in our eyes,” said Peskov. He later suggested the Kremlin would not pursue the matter further, despite making the “2023” remark.
“We are not inclined to exaggerate this or to blow this out of proportion,” said Peskov.
The remainder of O’Reilly’s interview with Trump aired Monday night on The O’Reilly Factor.
With files from Reuters
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