Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly insists that there is absolutely no way that a gay-themed McDonalds ad — that has gone viral — would ever run in America.

As Huffington Post noted on Monday, “McDonald’s has released an ad in France welcoming gay people to their restaurants. The spot is titled ‘Come as you are,’ and shows a young gay man eating in a McDonald’s with his father, who doesn’t know his son is gay.”

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Nicholas Graham blogged, “It’s commendable of McDonald’s to display their inclusiveness, but it’s unclear why they felt the need to air such an ad at all. Were French gay people previously feeling unwelcome in McDonald’s?”

A commenter at the Think Progress affiliated Ygleisas blog asked, “Were gay folks waiting for permission?”

Wednesday night, Fox News Channel’s daytime anchor Jane Skinner explained on The O’Reilly Factor that Nathalie Legarlantezec, the Brand Director for McDonalds in France, had issued the following statement: “We wanted to show society the way it is today, without judging. ThereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s obviously no problem with homosexuality in France today.Ã¢â‚¬Â

A Queerty blogger observed, “Bill O’Reilly isn’t a stupid man, and he knows that all food advertising isn’t about making your salivate.”

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Sometimes it’s about making you feel welcome, which is what McDonald’s gay ad in France was trying to accomplish. But of course this is a “political” ad, so let’s jump into crazytown with Bill’s rhetorical question, “Do they have an Al Qaeda ad?” No, but there is an Iranian one.

“It’ll never run in the USA,” O’Reilly declared.

Skinner asked, “How do you know it’s not coming to the states? Never say never.”

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O’Reilly then got serious, raised his finger in the air, and shook his head: “No, I guarantee you that will not run here.”

This video is from Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor, broadcast June 2, 2010.

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Original French McDonalds ad: