Jon Stewart-Bill O'Reilly Video May 16 2011: Rapper Common Debate

Jon Stewart Debated Bill O'Reilly on May 16, 2011. Here is the Jon Stewart-Bill O'Reilly Video

On the May 16, 2011 edition of the O'Reilly Factor, Jon Stewart and the FOX host debated the recent appearance of rapper Common at the White House.

Last week, Stewart mocked O'Reilly and other FOX personalities for their reaction to the decision to have Common appear at a White House poetry event. To Stewart, the Common White House story was a ginned-up controversy of no real consequence.

O'Reilly insisted that the Common story had real value, arguing that the rapper has been sympathetic to 'cop-killers' like Assata Shakur.

Stewart felt the idea that Common was sympathetic to 'cop-killers' was overblown. He stated that Common did not support cop killers, but thought that Assata Shakur might have been wrongfully accused. He noted that other artists have defended criminals they thought were wrongly convicted. Bono defended Leonard Peltier and Bob Dylan sang about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter.

"It's the exact same thing: A guy convicted of killing a law enforcement official, no?" asked Stewart, throwing in a  "Boo-yah!" for good measure.

Stewart also said that an invitation to the White House does not mean that President Obama endorses everything that Common--or any other White House guest, for that matter--has ever done.

O'Reilly then accused Jon Stewart of "pettifogging." We had to look up what that means. Here's a pettifogging definition.

Here is the Jon Stewart-Bill O'Reilly interview video from May 16, 2011