Fox News-er to Lesbian Gun Nuts: My Bad
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
COMING CORRECT Wheeler
Could this be a first? Something said on The O'Reilly Factor has produced both a correction and an apology.
Alas, the apologizer isn't Bill himself but crime analyst Rod Wheeler, who says he erred during a discussion of lesbian street gangs, inflating the number of such gangs in the Washington, D.C., area and implying a nonexistent connection between them and a gun-rights group, the Pink Pistols.
"Humbly, I submit to you that as a professional, I am not too proud to admit when I've perhaps made a mistake, have misspoken, or have been misinterpreted surrounding a particular issue," he wrote. "I urge all who felt personally offended by the information provided to accept my apology, and let's focus and work together at addressing the gang and other real problems in some communities here in the United States."
UPDATE: Bill, we underestimated you. After the item above was filed but before it was posted, O'Reilly himself did, in fact, issue a clarification on the air, noting that the Pink Pistols is a gun-rights group, not a gang. Also, we misstated Rod Wheeler's status vis a vis Fox News: He is a crime analyst, not a legal correspondent. (The above item has been changed to reflect Wheeler's proper role.)