BILL O’REILLY VS. THE SIMPSONS

Writers of The Simpsons have delighted in taking swipes at Rupert Murdoch, the Fox Network, and Fox News over the years — biting the hand that feeds them dozens of times, if a list of such swipes posted on a fan website is any indication. But last Sunday’s show, which began with a Fox News helicopter bearing the logo “Not Racist, But No. 1 With Racists” proved to be too much for Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly. (The helicopter arrives at the statue of liberty and offloads an executive as the pilot shouts, “Stop, we’re unbalanced, it’s not fair! And the helicopter crashes.) Reilly, whose new book is titled Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama, remarked in his commentary Monday: “Continuing to bite the hand that feeds part of it, Fox broadcasting once again allows its cartoon characters to run wild. … Pinheads? I believe so.”