On Sunday, The O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly claimed that Fox News had received virtually no backlash in response to the racist ‘Watters’ World’ segment aired on the show last Monday. Claiming that the segment “wasn’t over the line,” O’Reilly blamed the bulk of the segment’s criticism on “far-left” websites, while suggesting that Fox News had received only ten irate letters after the segment aired.
Well, O’Reilly can no longer claim that to be true. Last Thursday, in the wake of several public statements issued by AAPI advocacy groups, I created a Change.org petition to help amplify the community’s outcry against Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor, and ‘Watters’ World’.
In less than 96 hours, the petition had accumulated nearly 20,000 signatures. Today, four copies of the full petition arrived at Fox News headquarters. The petition copies were sent by courier to: Jay Wallace, Executive Vice President of News & Programming; David Tabacoff, Executive Producer of The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly, and correspondent Jesse Watters.
In total, each petition contained over 220 pages listing thousands of the petition’s supporters. Each petition weighed nearly four pounds.
This petition is proof that the Asian American community is furious, and we want Fox News to be held accountable. Twenty thousand people recorded via the petition their outrage at the racism of the Watters’ World: Chinatown Edition segment, and expressed support for the following three demands:
- Fox News must issue a formal apology and retraction for the Watters’ World: Chinatown Edition segment.
- Fox News must cancel future Watters’ World segments from scheduled broadcast.
- Fox News executives, The O’Reilly Factor producers, Bill O’Reilly and Jesse Watters must agree to a sit-down meeting with representatives of the Asian American community to discuss the racist segment, as well as the broader issue of Asian American underrepresentation and misrepresentation at the network. That meeting must take place within 90 days of October 3, 2016.
Attached to each petition was a cover letter demanding that Fox News return a response to the petition’s demands by Monday, October 17, 2016.
I have a receipt showing that the petitions were delivered to Fox News. It is now up to the network to make the next move.
The ball’s in your court, Fox News. The community is watching, and waiting for your response.
Please share this post to continue to apply pressure to Fox News. Do not allow them to continue to portray the Asian American community as apathetic towards the racism on display in Watters’ segment. We cannot allow Fox News to continue to pretend that they have not received any critical feedback about this video when we can prove that they’ve physically received a petition equivalent to twenty thousand angry letters.
