S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris recently revealed a past one-on-one confrontation he had with controversial FOX News television host Bill O'Reilly and how their unexpected face-to-face left him walking away with a check.
Luda ran into O’Reilly, who is most known for allegedly having him dropped from a Pepsi campaign, which resulted in a brief verbal exchange.
“Long story short, there’s nothing he could do. I think he talks about certain people but he never thinks he’s going to meet these people in person, let alone the type of events and the circles that he’s in, that these rappers are sometimes going to be in those same circles,” Luda said in an interview, revealing he saw O’Reilly at a White House event. “He started talking to me about he heard about a lot of the charity work I’ve done with the Ludacris Foundation. This is how he eased into it. He was like, ‘Yeah man, I hear you’ve done good work and I think that maybe I should make a donation to your foundation.’ This is how he got me to calm down. I’m like, ‘You want to make a donation?’ I was like, ‘Well what do I need to do to make that happen immediately, like ASAP?’ … I can’t let everybody know how much the donation was, but at the end of the day, after all of this craziness, Bill O’Reilly ended up writing a check to me to my foundation after approaching him in person.” (“Sway In The Morning”)
Last year, Luda hinted at an unspecified one-on-one interaction with O’Reilly.
“The first thing I said to him was, ‘I want to meet the guy who has had so much to say about me, but knows absolutely nothing about me’,” Ludacris said in an interview. “I identified that I wanted to speak to him when I saw his name on the guest list. I looked at what table he was on, and I walked my a** straight to that table. He wasn’t expecting to see me, at all. The look on his face when he saw me approaching… priceless. From there, we came to a common ground. To be honest with you, we came together and did an event for charity – as crazy as it sounds. Perhaps everything happens for a reason. I prayed since the very first moment that Bill said something about me on television that I would be able to meet him in person. It took about seven years for that to happen, but it finally happened. And the joy that came over me, well, it was outstanding.” (Radar Online)
Luda’s issues stem from comments O’Reilly made about him in 2002.
O’Reilly was instrumental in getting Luda dropped from an endorsement deal with Pepsi when he demanded a boycott against the company for hiring someone who “disrespects women, encourages drug use, and encouraged violence.” The host of Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” continued to denounce the hip-hop star for years, describing him as “vile” and a “thug.” (Rap-Up)
The host even went as far as to tell Pepsi he would refuse to drink their products.
“I’m calling for all responsible Americans to fight back and punish Pepsi for using a man who degrades women, who encourages substance abuse and does all the things that hurt particularly the poor and our society,” O’Reilly said in a 2002 television broadcast. Then he says, “I’m calling for all Americans to say, hey, Pepsi, I’m not drinking your stuff.” (Smoking Section)
Check out Ludacris’ interview below:
