UPDATE: It's on. Jon Stewart has accepted Bill O'Reilly's challenge and will appeare on Fox News on Monday.
EARLIER: If we've learned anything this week, it's that News Corp.-owned media outlets sure know how to milk controversies they create.
On Thursday, after two full days of Fox News-fueled furor over the White House's invitation to the rapper Common to perform at a poetry event — and a day after Jon Stewart appropriately slammed Fox for finding a "controversy" where there wasn't one — Bill O'Reilly defended the network's beef, challenging Stewart to debate the issue on air.
A battle, in hip-hop parlance.
"I would like to debate you about the Common situation," O'Reilly said. "Because it's important."
Earlier, MC Bill-O clarified his stance on the rap game. "I want to make one thing very clear," he said. "On 'The Factor' we're not objecting to Common's style. We fought the good fight years ago against gangsta rappers. He's not a gangsta rapper. But now society has generally accepted all rappers."
I can't believe we're still talking about this.
