Jessica Alba: Assails at Bill O'Reilly for insinuating she's "dumb"

Jessica Alba: Assails at Bill O'Reilly for insinuating she's "dumb"

Top actress Jessica Alba has taken to her Celebrity MySpace blog to defend herself over accusations made by Bill O'Reilly and TMZ.com that she is dumb.

At an inauguration event last week, when a reporter approached her, she tried to turn the tables on him by asking him what Barack Obama's greatest characteristic was. When the reporter said he felt uncomfortable answering because he is a journalist, Alba replied, "be neutral - be Sweden about it."

Site tmz.com later called her a "ditz" and an "arrogant buffoon" for saying Sweden instead of Switzerland when referring to the neutral country during WWII.

O'Reilly - whom Alba had called an "a-hole" at the same event - also called her "misguided" for mixing up the countries.

But on her blog, Alba writes, "I find it depressing that, in the midst of perhaps the most salient time in our country's history, individuals are taking it upon themselves to encourage negativity and stupidity.

"Last week, Mr. Bill O'Reilly and some really classy sites (i.e. TMZ) insinuated I was dumb by claiming Sweden was a neutral country.

"I appreciate the fact that he is a news anchor and that gossip sites are inundated with intelligent reporting, but seriously people... it's so sad to me that you think the only neutral country during WWII was Switzerland."

She then linked to a wikipedia article to prove Sweden was also a neutral country.

Added Alba, "I appreciate the name calling and the accurate reporting. Keep it up!!"

Bill O'Reilly

Web site tmz.com shot back in a blog post Tuesday afternoon: "She is absolutely correct. Sweden was a neutral country... 60 years ago. We apologize for not considering the political climate of the world in 1942 when we suggested she may have meant, 'Be Switzerland' -- a country that is currently neutral."

Before signing off, she posted a video of her trip to the inauguration.