bans for thee, not me

Bill O’Reilly, who supports book bans, is pissed two of his own books were just banned in Florida

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Bill O'Reilly standing outside in a dark blue suit jacket.

It’s all fun and games until your own books get banned.

Bill O’Reilly, who was booted from his primetime perch at Fox News following the revelation of five sexual harassment suits, is outraged not one but two of his own books have been yanked from Florida school shelves.

The disgraced anchor’s books Killing Jesus: A History and Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency were both removed from school libraries in Escambia County, on Florida’s westernmost end.

The titles were removed to see whether they violate Florida’s new law restricting school distracts from displaying pieces of work with “sexual content.”

During the 2022-23 school year, PEN America recorded 1,406 book bans in Florida, accounting for 40% of the nationwide total.

At first, O’Reilly said he supported the law, which was championed by Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis. But now that it’s impacted him, he thinks the edict goes too far.

“The state has an obligation to protect children,” he told Newsweek. “But the wording of the law was far too nebulous in Tallahassee.”

O’Reilly followed up his comments with multiple posts on social media.

“Things are getting crazy with book banning in #Florida,” he tweeted.

Unsurprisingly, the alleged serial sexual harasser didn’t garner much sympathy.

While book bans are prevalent throughout Florida school districts, they are becoming increasingly common in Escambia County, a deep-red district on the panhandle. Last week, the district pulled nearly 2,000 books from school libraries for review.

Those titles include five dictionaries and eight different encyclopedias, according to PEN America. Anne Frank’s diary was also removed.

PEN America and Penguin Random House is suing Escambia over the literary purges. A federal judge recently allowed the lawsuit, which opposes restrictions on 10 books related to LGBTQ+ issues and racial identity, to proceed.

Even a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, the conservative group that pushed for book bans, says the law is being misapplied.

“They’ve got bloated administrative budgets, they’ve got people doing all kinds of things,” said Tiffany Justice, per the Tallahassee Democrat. “If they don’t have the time to vet the books that are in the libraries then they have no business being in their jobs.”

DeSantis, for his part, denies that book bans exist… even though he signed the law.

“Well, first of all, there’s not a single book that’s banned in the state of Florida,” he said last May. “That is a media hoax.”

He should try telling that to O’Reilly. The once-relevant personality is also demanding answer from the anti-gay governor.

“A Florida county removes my books 📚 ‘Killing Jesus’ and ‘Killing Reagan’ from school libraries,” he posted. “Preposterous! We are investigating and are seeking comment from @GovRonDeSantis.”

So far, crickets. This is some great schadenfreude.

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