Ilya S. Savenok / Stringer/Getty Images
Bill O'Reilly.
- Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said many people dying from the novel coronavirus "were on their last legs anyway" during a segment on Fox News host Sean Hannity's radio show.
- He faced backlash for his comments on Twitter, where people debunked his claim and called him a "joke."
- O'Reilly defended his comments on Thursday, saying: "The pandemic is extremely deadly but not the Black Plague. Far-left wants chaos and carnage so President Trump will lose re-election."
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Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly defended himself on Thursday after facing backlash for saying many people dying from the novel coronavirus "were on their last legs anyway."
"The pandemic is extremely deadly but not the Black Plague. Far-left wants chaos and carnage so President Trump will lose re-election. They are not interested in facts and will try to punish people who provide perspective," he said on Twitter.
O'Reilly had made the comment about people dying during an appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity's radio show in a segment first reported on by Media Matters, in which the pair discussed when Americans would be done with social distancing.
"Many people who are dying, both here and around the world, were on their last legs anyway," O'Reilly said. "And I don't want to sound callous about that."
Hannity told O'Reilly," You're going to get hammered for that," to which O'Reilly responded: "A simple man tells the truth."
The pair then went on to say underlying conditions, age, and compromised immune systems also played a part in many COVID-19-related deaths, then O'Reilly predicted that the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention will eventually say many people who died of the virus "also had other things that killed them."
More than 16,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US, and 91,000 have died worldwide. While underlying conditions and compromised immune systems put people at a higher risk with COVID-19, hundreds of young people and those without preexisting conditions are still dying from the virus. At least 759 people under that age of 50 have died from the virus, according to the Washington Post.
People criticized O'Reilly's comments on Twitter, where they debunked his claim and called the former Fox News host a "joke."
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