VIDEO: Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly Debate Common Controversy
Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly
It's no East Coast-West Coast battle, but Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly's debate over Common was pretty heated.
The hosts faced off on Monday's O'Reilly Factor after Stewart mocked the Republicans' outrage at the White House's invitation to the rapper to attend a poetry reading last week. The GOP's gripe: Common supports violence and cop-killing in his lyrics, and should not be invited to the White House.
VIDEO: Uproar over Common's White House invite
Stewart argued that a number of artists who have written songs about men convicted of killing police have been invited to the White House.
"Are you familiar with Leonard Pelletier?" Stewart asked O'Reilly, referring to a man convicted of killing two FBI agents. "Guess who wrote a song about him? Bono. And guess where he was? The White House. Boo-yah!
"That's a rap word," he quipped.
"Do I have to give [Common] a pass then?" O'Reilly asked.
"No, just be consistent in your outrage," Stewart said.
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O'Reilly pointed out that Common actually visited one of the convicted killers."That's enough for a sitting president to say, 'That's enough, this guy might be radioactive, I'm not doing it,'" O'Reilly said, before asking what Stewart would've done if he were Obama.
"If I'm president and I'm hosting my own poetry slams, throw me out of office," Stewart said. "I would believe, as president, I would have things to do. ... It's a poetry slam. Who gives a crap?"
Part 2 of their debate airs Tuesday.
Watch Part 1: