Play us out already: The original O’Reilly footage of the man flipping out.
By Laura Mojonnier
By now, you have undoubtedly had the pleasure of seeing Bill O’Reilly go ballistic on an old Inside Edition outtake that resurfaced online earlier this month. The clip spread like only viral videos can, and within days, O’Reilly himself addressed the mini-controversy on his show, joking that the taped meltdown was only the tip of the iceberg. “By contractual obligation, I have to create a few dramas every year for the amusement of my coworkers,” he said smiling, exuding an alarming degree of humility, perspective, and self-control that certainly did not win him his contract at Fox.
Inside the back pedal.
O’Reilly’s attempt to put the matter to rest was futile, however. The footage is just too damn good. I’ve already incorporated his best outbursts into my everyday conversation (“Fuck it! Do it live!” and “Fucking! Thing! Sucks!” are my favorites). The clip is the first video that pops up when you search his name on YouTube, and as of press time, it has garnered more than 1.3 million views. I am clearly not alone.
O’Reilly meltdown: the dance remix
But the real story here, I think, is not the meltdown itself – everyone knows that O’Reilly is a barking, chauvinistic blowhard – but rather the dance remix. Nothing hits the spot quite like watching O’Reilly on loop, rapping, “I don’t know / I don’t know / I don’t know / Fuck!” to the sweet techno beat. I can basically recite the entire song by heart. And in light of the remix, the original footage seems a hollow shell of its former self. It no longer possesses the same power to shock and titillate. Why not? The dance remix, in all its repetitive hilarity, shows O’Reilly’s freak-out for what it actually is: a sadly predictable confirmation that his television personality is not an act.