On the sixth day of this year’s Black History Month, during a segment on The Five, Fox News co-host Jeanine Pirro used a racial slur and “called her Black colleague an ‘Oreo,’” The Daily Beast reported.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term “oreo” is a “disparaging” and “offensive term” defined as “a Black person who is perceived as adopting the characteristic mentality and behavior of white middle-class people.”
What prompted Pirro’s outburst? New York City Mayor Eric Adams, or rather his recent boasts about having a “‘chocolate’ administration.” During a public appearance at a community event in Brooklyn last Wednesday, Adams alleged that one of the reasons critics target him is because of the ethnicity and racial makeup “of his deputy mayors.”
Adams told the five deputy mayors to “Stand up,” saying, “they need to see you.”
“Have you ever seen this much chocolate leading the city of New York? And then go down the line. Look who’s here. This is representative of the city. That’s why people are hating on me,” Adams continued.
On Tuesday’s show, Pirro turned to her Black co-worker Harold Ford Jr., a former Democratic congressman from Tennessee. “When I was reading this line—‘Have you ever seen this much chocolate leading the city of New York?’ I mean, I didn’t know whether that was offensive. Is that offensive to the people he was referencing?” she asked Ford.
Ford’s response: perhaps Adams was simply “trying to say there’s a vast amount of African American leadership.”
Pirro then referred to Adams as being “articulate,” which can be another loaded and racialized term.
She continued down this train of thought, asking “Why did he call them ‘chocolate’?”
“He might not have had enough time. He might have been trying to condense it,” replied Ford, while adding that he would have handled the situation differently.
Co-hosts Greg Gutfeld and Dana Perino then interjected, saying “that Adams’ audience should not have been offended.” “You’re like my Cadbury Egg,” said Gutfeld to Ford. Perino quipped back, “He’s my Snickers.”
Things got even more awkward when Pirro exclaimed, “Oreo! That’s it.” Gutfeld, Pirro and Watters started laughing, but Ford seemed affronted, asking “An Oreo? Did you call me an Oreo?”
Pirro confirmed that she did, saying “Yeah. Yeah.” Ford then went on to explain that an “oreo” is “Black on the outside, white on the inside.”
As they approached the segment’s end, Pirro seemingly tried to extend an olive branch for her gaffe, saying “Harold, we love you. I love you. You okay?” “I’m fine,” Ford said, “Mr. Mayor, thank you.”
As of yet, there has been no disciplinary action yet levied against Pirro for her on-air remarks. But the last public official to call someone an “oreo” had to resign after facing extreme backlash, when Lamar County Democratic Party chair Gary O’Connor called U.S. Republican Senator Tim Scott one on Twitter in 2021.