It’s been a couple of years since a Fox News pundit, Bill O’Reilly, was able to coerce Pepsi into firing rap star Chris Bridges, better known as Ludacris. O’Reilly has repeatedly antagonized him for being a purported women-hater who glorifies a life of violence and drug use “all day long.” More recently, O’Reilly convinced the supplier of half of America’s beer to drop Ludacris as a spokesperson.

For those who don’t remember the relatively small uproar over Pepsi signing Ludacris to promote their product, Bill O’Reilly led the successful boycott to take out the rap mogul. This inspired hatred in many people inside the hip-hop culture. The Source, a prominent hip-hop magazine, ran a story on this situation that included a picture of O’Reilly with red devil horns. Jay-Z also weighed in on the situation when, as a featured artist, he rapped, “So Fuck Chuck Phillips and Bill O’Reilly, if they try to stop hip-hop then we all gonn’ rally.”

After being called a racist by the rap community, O’Reilly has remained undaunted. A headline on his Web site, www.billoreilly.com, reads, “Congratulations, Factor Fans! Anheuser-Busch has canned its endorsement deal with ‘gangsta’ rapper Ludacris — in part, because so many of YOU took action, signed our petition and e-mailed it to the beer giant. It’s another huge win for the folks.”

The petition on O’Reilly’s Web site criticizes Ludacris for celebrating “criminal activity, general debauchery and violence against women.” It also contains some example lyrics to drive home the point and closes with a plea for the children who “digest the garbage Ludacris puts out.”

Fans of “The O’Reilly Factor” who read these example lyrics are sure to think Ludacris a menace to society. Abe Gustin, a restaurant owner, thinks so. Being a good little O’Reilly Factor henchman, Mr. Gustin has ended his 16-year relationship with Anheuser-Busch with the best intentions. However, I wonder how much of Ludacris’ music he listened to before making this decision.

Herein lies the problem — a vast majority of O’Reilly’s viewers do not listen to Ludacris. So, when he claims a rapper is a villain, his sheep fall in line. Of course, O’Reilly doesn’t want to be objective, giving people the other side of the story. He doesn’t make mention of songs like “Growing Pains,” a song that contains the lyrics, “We were tryin’ so hard, hard to survive. ‘Cause even though we were young, we had to stay strong. No matter what we went through, it was me and my crew. And that’s how it went when we were kids.”

Ludacris does have some lewd songs. As one of the songs that can be misconstrued as misogynistic, it’s important to see the lyrics of the song “Ho” for what they really are. In this song, the word “ho” is uttered more than 100 times. But the song doesn’t condemn women; it pokes fun at women who sleep around and admits at the end that a lot of men sleep around, too. And it’s for entertainment. Ludacris cleverly raps “ho” into words and sayings like “HOtel,” “HO wide world,” and, my favorite, “HOzone layer.” Obviously, this song is not to be taken seriously.

O’Reilly also forgets to mention the charity work done through the Ludacris Foundation. On the mission page of the foundation’s Web site, www.theludacrisfoundation

.com, eight principles of success are listed. They include self-esteem, spirituality, communication, education, leadership, goal-setting, physical activity and community service. The foundation offers scholarships, encourages kids to stay in school and does events to bring communities together. Does this sound like the work of a villain?

Some of Ludacris’ songs are vulgar and should not be heard by children. Because of this, an explicit lyrics warning appears on the cover of each of his CDs, telling parents the music is unfit for their children and making the CD less attainable. If a company like Anheuser-Busch — which makes products intended for adults — wants to hire, as a spokesman, an entertainer who makes music for adults, it’s fine by me. O’Reilly obviously has a problem with the hip-hop community. Unfortunately, he chooses to attack one of the better members of that community, simply because of Ludacris’ sometimes scandalous lyrics.