Bill O’Reilly Admits Criticism of Guest Falsely Billed as Swedish Official Is ‘Valid’

“In hindsight, a more relevant guest should have been used,” Fox News host says of Nils Bildt after his lack of ties to Swedish Government were revealed

Bill O'Reilly
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Fox News host Bill O’Reilly used his tip of the day segment on Monday to state that “criticism is valid” regarding Nils Bildt, who was inaccurately described as a Swedish official during an appearance on the show.

On Thursday, an “O’Reilly Factor” segment on Sweden’s status as a refugee-friendly country featuredBildt, who Fox News described as a “Swedish Defense and National Security Advisor.”

“After the segment, some left-wing people objected to one guest, Nils Bildt,” O’Reilly said on Monday. “The Swedish government also weighed in, saying they’ve had no contact with Mr. Bildt. Now, we looked into the situation and the criticism is valid. It’s valid.”

He continued: “Mr Bildt does consulting work, on terrorism, that’s true. But we should have clarified that he had no direct role with the Swedish government… in hindsight, a more relevant guest should have been used.”

Bildt’s title, which was displayed on the network’s chyron and mentioned by O’Reilly, was inaccurate. Bildt now claims he is an “independent political advisor” and “Fox News is solely responsible” for the inaccurate title.

Bildt told O’Reilly that Swedish officials were essentially clueless, with “no systemic plan for integrating mass amounts of immigrants to become productive members of society.” He also said the country has “a problem with socially deviant activity” and “hot spots of crime,” because of complications with immigrants.

However, It turns out that Bildt wasn’t exactly qualified to speak on the nation’s politics.

“Our booker made numerous inquiries and spoke to people who recommended Nils Bildt and after pre-interviewing him and reviewing his bio, we agreed that he would make a good guest for the topic that evening,” “O’Reilly Factor” executive producer David Tabacoff said in a statement prior to Monday’s show.

Bildt issued his own statement to Mediaite: “Suffice to say I am an independent political advisor. Fox News is solely responsible for the header or title used. I cannot comment on that. Sorry for any confusion caused, but needless to say I think that is not really the issue, the issue is Swedish refusal to discuss their social problems and issues.”

The situation surrounding Bildt is bizarre and Mediaite reported that he even deleted photos of a trip to Moscow from his personal site when the media watchdog confronted him about them. According to the site, Bildt called Moscow’s Red Square the “the Center of the Universe” in a caption.

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