Deciding against “doing it live,” Bill O’Reilly will not be stepping out of the recording studio to appear at the U this weekend.
O’Reilly, host of the highly rated cable show “The O’Reilly Factor,” was scheduled to appear at the Huntsman Center on Saturday, but canceled the appearance Wednesday because of a “personal issue,” said Jake Williams, head promoter of Bondad and JW Entertainment, the group organizing the event.
O’Reilly’s appearance in Salt Lake City will be rescheduled sometime around March and could be moved to the E Center, Williams said.
Drew Conrad, chairman of the U College Republicans, was happy to hear that O’Reilly’s appearance at the U has been canceled for now.
“Anytime a pundit who makes millions of dollars to fuel divisive politics is muted, I think that is a victory for our country,” Conrad said.
He compared O’Reilly to other television pundits such as Glenn Beck, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann and said going to events to watch personalities like them speak doesn’t interest him because they don’t offer answers to political issues.
“If we’re going to have a conversation, let’s try to focus on solutions and not on issues that are not going to make anything happen,” he said.
Chase Clyde, president of the U College Democrats, was disappointed to find out O’Reilly had canceled.
“I was seriously thinking about going,” Clyde said. “I think (O’Reilly) is articulate even if he’s wrong most of the time.”
Clyde admitted, however, that he probably would not have spent $30, about the cheapest price Utah Tickets was offering for the event, to see O’Reilly speak.
Conrad suggested that people who were planning on going to the event instead donate the money they were going to spend on tickets to a political party or local campaign.
“It would’ve been a good date night,” Clyde said. With O’Reilly on the stage jabbering on pompously, “it would’ve been great.”