O'Reilly praises Harlem eatery -- sort of

• Tweet

NEW YORK, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Fox News host Bill O'Reilly seemed surprised his recent visit to a famed Harlem restaurant was a lovely experience.

"There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea,'" O’Reilly said on "The Radio Factor," his syndicated radio program distributed by Westwood One, which is managed by CBS Radio.

"It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all," O'Reilly said, according to CBS News.

O'Reilly compared his positive experience at Sylvia's, a restaurant "run by blacks, (with a) primarily black patronship," to the image "white America" has of a black culture "dominated by Twista, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg."

Bill Shine, senior vice president of programming for Fox News, said criticism of O'Reilly's comments amounts to "nothing more than left-wing outlets stirring up false racism accusations for ratings. It's sad."

O'Reilly made the comments while discussing a dinner he shared with Al Sharpton, CBS News said.

"Nothing Mr. O'Reilly said at the dinner itself was offensive, according to Rev. Sharpton," said a Sharpton spokesperson.