Tuesday, Feb. 03, 2009

"We'll Do It Live!"

Warning: Video contains explicit language

It's no secret that Bill O'Reilly has a bit of a temper. He has cut down the son of a 9/11 victim ("I've done more for the 9/11 families by their own admission — I've done more for them than you will ever hope to do, so you keep your mouth shut ... Shut up. Shut up!") and pushed and berated an Obama campaign worker he felt was blocking his camera shot. But years before any of his Fox News antics, O'Reilly lost it with his staff at Inside Edition. It's not clear exactly what set O'Reilly off — either his teleprompter wasn't working properly or some bad newscast writing got him rankled — but go off he did.

Arms flailing, O'Reilly got progressively louder and more agitated until he was cursing out a director off camera and screaming. The most jarring part of the tape, though, is watching O'Reilly lose it in one breath and calmly sign off the episode of Inside Edition in the next. It's as if he flipped off the crazy switch. Watch closely, though, and you can see O'Reilly's not done. He practically rips off his suit jacket as the show fades out.

Read why O'Reilly thinks it's O.K. to tell interviewees to shut up.

Read "Obama Meets O'Reilly: No One Dies!"