Fed up with getting the cold shoulder from Bernie Sanders, Bill O’Reilly sent one of his reporters, Jesse Watters, from his Fox News show, The O’Reilly Factor, to attempt an ambush interview earlier this month. Sanders dismissed the reporter, stating, “I don’t do ambush interviews,” and ignored Watters despite his aggressive sarcastic questioning. During the attempted interview, Watters tossed out obnoxious questions like, “Are you afraid of Hillary Clinton?” and, “O’Reilly is a little concerned that if you do become President, you might seize his house. Should he be worried?”

Bernie kept his eyes forward for the most part and ignored O’Reilly’s intentionally unpleasant interviewer until they bumped into each other and quickly blamed one another for the collision.

Despite not getting the answers to any of his questions, Watters returned to the O’Reilly Factor, where he and Bill laughed about the ordeal and speculated that Bernie doesn’t visit Bill anymore because he’s “big time” and “being a politician” now that his poll numbers are surging in the Democratic race for President. After this stunt, it would be no surprise if Sanders doesn’t appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show until after the 2016 election, if at all.

When O’Reilly’s guerrilla methods didn’t work, he thought it would be a good idea to call out celebrity Sanders endorsers, specifically Will Ferrell, to come on the show and argue, or as Bill put it, “I’ll debate you anytime, you pinhead.” According to Salon, O’Reilly has since backpedaled and softened his language, but still extends an open invitation to any celebrity to join him on the O’Reilly Factor to debate their political views.

Of celebrities who endorse political candidates, O’Reilly said, “They don’t know anything. Do you think Will Ferrell knows anything?”

“Does he know what Bernie stands for? Does he know what Bernie wants?”

Bill and his O’Reilly Factor guests couldn’t fathom that an actor would know anything about politics and instead assumed that famous people dabble in the political spotlight as a hobby, just to stay relevant. But Ferrell’s showing of support for Bernie Sanders isn’t his first experience in the political crosshairs of the right. In 2012, he reached out to voters on behalf of President Obama by recording an online video for his campaign for re-election. And last year, Ferrell showed his support of the Affordable Care Act, something O’Reilly is staunchly opposed to, by posting a photo of himself on Facebook holding a sign with #GetCovered written on it. The intention was to reach out to those of his fan base who might be uninsured or underinsured to encourage them to sign up for an affordable plan. According to Advertising Age, the post was bombarded with thousands of comments, most of them rather uncomplimentary of the comedian.

So while Bill O’Reilly and his supporters may think that celebrities are flexing their political muscle just to be trendy or staying the spotlight, many of them are deeply involved in political causes and are using their celebrity to reach out to demographics that may be missed by standard pundits like Bill. It’s possible that O’Reilly is frustrated that those who haven’t been involved in politics their entire careers, like Bill has, are bending more ears and gaining more clout that the argumentative talk show host is.

A question to ponder here is, “Is Bill O’Reilly being hypocritical?”

After all, he has recently and very successfully become an author of historically-focused books about the final days of John F. Kennedy, Adolph Hitler, Ronald Reagan, and Jesus Christ, among others. While O’Reilly earned a history degree in 1971 from Marist College, his master’s degree is in broadcast journalism. His bachelor’s degree hardly makes Bill an expert in the subjects he’s making millions writing about, so is Mr. O’Reilly also speaking out of turn?

[Image via Fox News and Entertainment Weekly]