Washington: Longtime news analyst Juan Williams, who has written extensively on race and civil rights in the US, has been fired by National Public Radio after saying on the Fox News Channel that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane.
NPR, which is partially government funded, issued a statement late Wednesday saying his contract as a senior news analyst was being terminated after Williams' comments Monday on "The O'Reilly Factor."
Host Bill O'Reilly brought on guests to discuss his appearance last week on ABC's "The View" during which Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in protest of O'Reilly's views on Muslims.
"Where am I going wrong here, Juan?" O'Reilly asked.
Williams, 56, responded that too much political correctness can get in the way of reality.
"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the Civil Rights movement in this country," Williams said.
"But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
A phone message left for Williams at his home in Washington seeking comment was not immediately returned Thursday.
Williams appeared briefly Thursday on Fox News and said he was abruptly fired Wednesday by Ellen Weiss, NPR's vice president for news. He said he told Weiss he meant what he said on the O'Reilly show, but that she told him he had made a bigoted statement and crossed a line.
"I said, 'You mean I don't even get the chance to come in and we do this eyeball-to-eyeball, person-to-person, have a conversation? I've been there more than 10 years," Williams said. He said Weiss responded that "there's nothing you can say that would change my mind."
Williams stood by his remarks Thursday and said his statement was not bigoted.
Before he was fired, Williams' comments drew a response from Islamic civil rights groups.
In a statement Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said such commentary from a journalist about other racial, ethnic or religious minority groups would not be tolerated.
Conservative bloggers defended Williams on Thursday, blasting NPR's decision.
"All Juan Williams did is say both exactly how he feels and how many, many other Americans feel on this subject," wrote Erick Erickson on his "Red State" blog. "The man's body of work makes clear he is no bigot. But we sure can't offend Muslims can we?"
