Fox News' Bill O'Reilly slams 'Glee' for Transgendered Story Plot

Black teen actor Alex Newell plays transgendered role on 'Glee'

The popular scripted musical sitcom “Glee” has become the target of criticism from conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly.

O’Reilly blasted this week’s episode of “Glee," aired on sister network Fox, for its inclusion of a transgendered teenager, played by “Glee Projects” runner-up Alex Newell.

Newell's character, named Unique, is a transgender African American student and performer in rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline.

First, he comes to the defense of transgender beauty contestant Jenna Talackova’s right to compete in the Miss Universe Canada pageant. Now he’s against the depiction of transgendered teens on TV?

“Here's the problem with a show like this, though,” O’Reilly said in the segment of his Thursday night show, The O’Reilly Factor, flagged by the advocacy group Media Matters. “If you make the behavior of these people ... if children hear it, unsupervised children, okay who don't have parents watching them -- they might go out and experiment with this stuff.”

“Do you really think that this is the kind of thing that's contagious?,” responded guest Judge Jeanine Pirro.

“I don’t know,” said O’Reilly. What he did know, he added, is that watching James Dean smoking as a kid, made him want to light up.

Here's what all the controversy is about.