Questlove condemns Bill O'Reilly for slavery comments

Roots drummer Questlove joins the ranks of prominent celebrities who have slammed Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly for comments he made about slavery on his show Tuesday night.

“Slavery was a nightmare,” he wrote in the caption for an Instagram post picturing a scarred American slave. “Slavery was a despicable act. Slavery is the pebble whose ripple in the river still resonates on and on and on and on. I’d like to think most of you have common sense. But there is nothing more dangerous than a man in a suit pretending to be a journalist giving revisionist history on the ugliness that was slavery. … I dunno if that man’s (never say his name) point is to troll at any cost whatsoever but his entire existence is a 5 steps backwards for any progress made in humanity.”

O’Reilly’s original comments were in response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at this week’s Democratic National Convention, in which she memorably noted, “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.” O’Reilly subsequently sparked controversy when he responded by saying the “slaves that worked [at the White House] were well fed and had decent lodgings.”

Shonda Rhimes and Audra McDonald also spoke out against his comments after his show aired. “The idiocy never ceases to amaze me,” Rhimes said earlier Wednesday. “Try slavery, Bill. Let us know how good the food is while you wear chains.” McDonald, like Questlove, shared photos of slaves and wrote captions like, “Dear Bill O’Reilly…endure some of these…”

O’Reilly tweeted that his words had been distorted by “far left loons” and promised to provide more explanation on Wednesday’s episode of The O’Reilly Factor.