Fox News contributor Juan Williams said he has no regrets about the comments he made about Muslims that got him fired last year as an analyst on National Public Radio.
“I never had a second thought,” he said during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. “Because in fact what I expressed was a genuine feeling. It was not a well-vetted analysis.”
Williams was fired from NPR in October after telling Bill O’Reilly on Fox News that because of the September 11th attacks, he is nervous when he boards planes and sees Muslims.
“When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous,” he said.
Williams’ firing sparked calls from Republicans to defund NPR, saying the episode illuminated the organization’s liberal bias.
He said Thursday his comment “wasn’t a suggestion that we base our TSA policies on the basis of such a feeling, it was simply an honest statement of feeling.”