Sean Stone, the son of controversial director Oliver Stone, appeared on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” Monday night to discuss his recent trip to Iran, during which he converted to Islam.
Stone said he objected to the word convert since he claimed he still believes in the same Judeo-Christian God. O’Reilly was curious how Stone, whose father was born half-Jewish, could support a leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has claimed that the Holocaust never happened.
“With Ahmadinejad, he’s very misunderstood,” Stone said, according to the blog
TheWrap.
While Stone said there is “no room for Holocaust denial,” he tried to explain Ahmadinejad’s virulently anti-Semitic rhetoric as a result of Westerners meddling in Middle Eastern affairs.
The Iranians have a problem with “imperialism as a longstanding policy in the region.”
Throughout the interview O’Reilly pressed Stone on the extremists in Iran while Stone tried to defend the Iranians dislike of the West without denouncing the United States himself.
O’Reilly compared visiting Iran now to visiting Germany in the 1930s and talking with Adolf Hitler, suggesting Stone is a pawn. Stone presented himself as an ambassador, one who asked the government to “stop with this ‘down with America’ nonsense.”
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