On Easter Sunday, NBC aired a live version of the Biblical rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. It was a star-studded production, with Hamilton veteran Brandon Victor Dixon playing Judas Iscariot, rock star Alice Cooper playing King Herod, and R&B singer John Legend playing Jesus Christ.
Most people loved hearing John Legend's energetic take on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's classic songs. However, one person watching the broadcast was not a fan: former Fox News pundit and loofah enthusiast Bill O'Reilly. You'd think he would appreciate the musical, since it was live, and we all remember that viral video where he yelled "F--ck it! We'll do it live!" on the set of Inside Edition. But O'Reilly was critical of John Legend's modern take on the spiritual material. During the show, he tweeted, "Watching JC Superstar on NBC. Who knew Jesus of Nazareth ran a tattoo parlor? Geez."
But O'Reilly should have thought before he tweeted. See, John Legend is married to Chrissy Teigen, the Queen of Social Media, and the master of the clap-back on Twitter. Few have started a fight with her online and lived to tell the tale. The Lip Sync Battle host responded to O'Reilly's tweet with a perfect, brutal comeback: "Yes the shop specializes in coverups that aren’t 32 million dollars"
Teigen is referring to the fact that O'Reilly paid $32 million dollars to settle sexual harassment allegations from a Fox News analyst. That's a staggering amount of money for someone who claims to be innocent of all wrongdoing. In fact, multiple women at Fox News accused Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment, and he paid $45 million in total to settle everything. Although these incidents took place several years ago ago, a New York Times story exposing these controversial payouts led to O'Reilly losing his show, The O'Reilly Factor. So you can understand why he's a little grumpy these days.
John Legend appreciated Teigen's comeback, tweeting "I love my wife." Hey, we all do, John! On Twitter, Teigen's shut down everybody from vegans to New York Times editors to people hating on her looks, claiming she was "stunning before the fillers." O'Reilly famously claimed his show was a 'No Spin Zone,' but he's got to be spinning around in circles from after getting such a wicked burn.
O'Reilly written a lot about books about people getting killed - Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus. Maybe his next book could be called Killing O'Reilly On Social Media. It would be a very short book, just consisting of his tweet and Chrissy Teigen's reply. Maybe the pundit is just jealous he didn't get a cameo in the show. Imagine - the whole musical could have started off with him screaming, "F--k it! We'll do it live!" That would be a very high energy cold open.
In a related story, Chrissy Teigen fires back at vegetarians after they shame her for eating meat...