Bill O'Reilly slammed for saying that many who have died from coronavirus 'were on their last legs anyway'

The former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has caused outrage after he suggested that many of the people who have died from Covid-19 "were on their last legs anyway."

The 70-year-old conservative commentator, who was fired from the network in 2017 after it was revealed that he had settled several sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him by different women, resurfaced on Sean Hannity's radio show with a controversial quote about the pandemic.

On the April 8 edition of Hannity's premier radio show, O'Reilly said that he wanted life to return to normal soon but was beginning to see small signs of hope, such as Bernie Sanders dropping out of the presidential race and a drop in the predictions for the coronavirus death toll in the US.

He said:

But we're making little steps. Bernie Sanders, you know, he's -- he's gone, that's really good for everybody.

The projections that you just mentioned are down to 60,000, I don't think it will be that high. 13,000 dead now in the USA.

Many people who are dying, both here and around the world, were on their last legs anyway, and I don't want to sound callous about that. 

Hannity immediately notices that O'Reilly's comment is going to be controversial and tells him that he's going to be "hammered for that," but he doesn't seem concerned, replying:

I don't care. A simple man tells the truth.

It would appear that Hannity was correct and O'Reilly has been wildly criticised for his insensitive comments.

At the time of writing coronavirus has claimed more than 12,000 lives in the United States, with 779 people dying in New York on Wednesday alone.