Radio Host Fired for Using Racial Epithet

[zbdent]

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20060322/1823586491.htm

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis radio station quickly fired a talk show host for uttering a racial epithet as he talked about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on his morning show Wednesday.

Dave Lenihan apologized on the air immediately after making what he said was a slip of the tongue. KTRS president and general manager Tim Dorsey agreed the remark was accidental but said it was nonetheless ``unacceptable, reprehensible and unforgivable.''

<snip>

``She's been chancellor of Stanford,'' Lenihan said on the air. ``She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that.''

He said he had meant to say ``coup'' instead of the racial slur.

<snip>

My question - this guy was heaping praise on Condascending Lies . . . was he a RW Bush-lover?

[apnu]

1. He probably is a Bush-lover...

... but these guys are racists first and formost, it must be hard for them to surpress all those slurs. I feel bad for them, I really do.

:sarcasm:

[zbdent]

2. I felt it was a freudian slip

he was just saying what was really on his mind . . .

[Javaman]

68. Which means it was never far from his mind...nt

[adigal]

90. He LOVES Condi - he was on Hannity's radio show

and will be on the TV tonight - big right winger, said he would vote for Condi if she ran.

Another racist republican. Yawn.

[greekspeak]

3. Ooop...I guess he is a bigot first and a Bush-stapo member second

I am sure he speaks for the majority of the Bush-stapo with his little slip of the toungue. I hate to have schadenfreude, but I truly hope that this idiot's "slip" gets the attention of Pukes who are members of minorities. Folks, this is what the RW REALLY thinks about you.

[DrBloodmoney]

4. Good ole' St. Louis...

... doesn't surprise me a bit. Racists/bigots breed freely there.

[ikojo]

10. Racists and bigots breed freely all over the US...

As a matter of fact according the to the Southern Poverty Law Center there are 42 organized hate groups in so called liberal California versus 23 in the state accused of breeding racists and bigots freely, Missouri. New York State has almost the same number of hate groups as Missouri, 21.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp

[TheBaldyMan]

14. the Lebensraum Assembly Church ??? wtf

they should all get together and call themselves Neonazis 'R' Us and have done with it.

I can't really see how most of the organisiations classed as 'other' aren't in the neo-nazi group.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

37. Cali has 7x the population, NY has 4x of MO. n/t

[Kire]

5. the word after coup started with an N

I heard him on Howard Stern this morning. He's a wuss. And he thinks he's running for Congress. I think not.

[zbdent]

18. Uh,

"would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God." Hmm, no words following "coon" started with an N . . .

[Kire]

25. That quote is not accurate.

I heard it on the radio. I didn't memorize it, but if he sad "A big coon" the second time, it was after "a big coup N-" and it was to point out the fact that it sounds like coon. Like an ass. He blubbered and flustered and apologized profusely. There was no malice, just idiocy.

The fact that she was Aftican American and is a viable candidate for President is a big coup, well it would be if she wasn't Condoleeza.

[zbdent]

26. So, what was the next word?

[Kire]

27. he interrupted himself

I don't know what the next word was. Maybe if he wouldn't be such a coward and tell us, or if the media would listen to his side of the story when he calls them, we would know. Like I said I didn't memorize the broadcast.

[unda cova brutha]

61. He intended to say "it would be a big coup in the NFL"

but he let his words run together. It was an honest mistake that caused over reaction by all parties.

[Inland]

66. It'll teach him not to use Frenchy words like "coup" in a sports show.

He should be fired for being an unamerican smarty pants.

[tammywammy]

88. I agree

The radio show I was listening to today play his clip multiple times, and I really think that he just ran his words together.

[CJCRANE]

100. Looks like it was going to be the N-word..nt

[ikojo]

6. Mr Linehan previously worked at WGNU radio

in St Louis. WGNU has hosts that run the spectrum from John Birchers to pan Africanists. At one time the Couch Potato, AKA Frank Weltner (google that name and see what comes up) had a show every Friday afternoon. Gordon Baum of the Council for Conservative Citizens also had a show on WGNU but it was taken off for some reason. The type of comments that got Linehan fired from KTRS (which is trying to supplant KMOX in St Louis) would not have caused a problem on WGNU, where the hosts are responsible for hustling for advertisers for their shows.

[Lerkfish]

7. bush lover=racist, not hard to believe. btw: "coon" is not in my

"accidental" vocabulary.
Slips of the tongue are one thing, but to even have the word "coon" one slip from transferring from thought to speech, is indicative of more than a "slip".

[Marnieworld]

47. yep

That's how I feel too. It's not even a word in my mind. It's nonsense. Like Kloop or blern.

[Inland]

62. Everything is in your "accidental vocabulary."

Even words you don't know. It is coming out by accident. Unlike, say, accidentally jumping over a building, mispronunication and confusion aren't limited.

[noiretextatique]

103. that's not true for everyone

if you aren't in the habit of using racial slurs, it's very unlikely you will "slip" and suddenly use a racial slur "by accident." is this case, i think the guy's apology should have sufficed, even if it wasn't an "accident." in a country as mired in racism as this one, i think it's ridiculous to punish people for using terms in public that many use in private.

[Nomen Tuum]

8. Bush lovers wear bedsheets instead of sleeping in them!

The truth hurts, doesn't it?

[cboy4]

9. Mmmm hmmm, and I'm sure some of his "best friends" are

African American also..... :x(:

[Kire]

36. There are no African American DJ's at the station that fired him.

just sayin'

[qanda]

11. Gosh, I'm black and I think he made a mistake

Sounds like he was praising her and regardless of if he is a Bush lover, I hate that he would lose his job for making a mistake that anyone could make.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. Perhaps.

But that said, it's hinky. I mean, I really do not know anyone who makes "mistakes" like that unless they mean to make them, if you get my drift.

[qanda]

15. Depending on what you're saying next,

I can easily see someone slipping up and making that mistake when trying to say coup. No one is perfect and it just seems ridiculous to end someone's livlihood over such a stupid mistake.

[cboy4]

16. Trying to say "coup?" Oh please.

:banghead:

[qanda]

17. I didn't make that up, it was in the article

[cboy4]

20. I'm not arguing about the article.....I'm saying that when

people "slip" and say the "N" word or call someone gay a "Fag" or call a Mexican a "Beaner," etc., I believe those words are on the tip of their tongues for a reason. And it's a bad reason.

[Kire]

32. straw man

that's the argument you just made

he did not say the N word or call someone gay a fag or call a mexican a beaner

he said the word coup followed by a word that started with N in the context of a discussion of Condoleeza's African-Americanism and then he embarrassed himself apologizing for it

this guy is not a racist

an idiot, yes, but not a racist

if you want to argue about those things, start a new thread

[cboy4]

44. Don't tell me to start a new thread. I suggest you review my post

because your comprehension skills need a little fine tuning

[Kire]

98. that's your retort?

an ad hominem attack?

[LostinVA]

59. But he didn't say "coup," he said "coon"

[unda cova brutha]

93. "coup in" can easily come out like coon

Give the man a break and don't take away his livelyhood over a simple mistake. It's not as if therre aren't already enough people out of work in this nation.

[LostinVA]

58. It was on the tip of his tongue because it was on the tip of his brain

Unless you go raccoon hunting (and thus talk about coon dogs, etc.), like my redneck relatives, who the HELL has that word in their head? Like the weather guy who got fired for saying Martin Luther Coon Day. And people on here tried to say it was an accident... Ha!

I do, however, think he didn't mean to say it... although I think he meant what he said.

[progressivebydesign]

96. I still think his mind was processing "coup" and "boon" at the time

either word would have been appropriate. Tell me you have never said anything like that, mixing up two words.

[zbdent]

19. The next words had nothing to do with N

"would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God."

[Kire]

29. see post 25

[Marnieworld]

48. Though having the word in your vocabulary is no sign of "innocence"

I agree that he probably meant to say coup and coon came out. Coup makes sense in the context of the quote. Limbaugh gets away with non-accidental racist remarks all of the time and he's a multi-millionaire because of it. I think it was a mistake and I don't think he should have been fired for it but you can't help but wonder how that word bubbled up so easily.

[Samurai_Writer]

13. A mistake anyone could make?

Please, tell me how the word 'coon' even comes up in someone's every day conversation if they aren't racist. Unless we are talking about raccoons.

I grew up in St. Louis when I was in grade school and junior high. Even *I* was called the N word, multiple times, and I have maybe 2% African blood. It was only because I had darker skin (olive complexion) than everyone else in my neighborhood and school, both of which were all-white. St. Louis is very segregated (or was when I lived there). I highly doubt this man made a 'mistake'.

[Ben Ceremos]

22. Mnemonics at work?

I am the last person to apologize for a racist, so please understand that this comment is in the vein of linguistics..."Boon"+"Coup"="Coon"...This sort of mnemonic confusion is typical of indefinite/unresolved/uncertain cogitation. The brain apparently has 3 states of "resolution", roughly corresponding to "yes", "no" and "maybe". It is not a long step to reason that the radio host hoped to say something positive about Sleeza, got his racist emotions worked up and couldn't hide the "resolution state"/"maybe" that produced the conjunct/racial slur. I love it when this stuff happens to propagandists, etc.

[NashVegas]

24. Another Thing

I had posted something correlating in the Artist's group yesterday. A lot of radio people are left-handed. A LOT. Consider that in the processing of language (right brain/left brain).

[rinsd]

63. That's a very interesting point (nt)

[Laughing Mirror]

53. I think this is what happened too

Slips of the tongue have happened to me too, but fortunately none over the airwaves.

Thank you for the explanation of how this happens.

[qanda]

23. I am certainly not going to waste my time cleaning up for this person

I thought it was a mistake that he apologized for immediately and for that I don't think he deserved to lose his job. Perhaps people here know about his background that would lead him to go from praising a black woman to calling her a racial epithet. :shrug:

[Kire]

31. he was talking about the fact that she was African American

and the fact that she could be a viable candidate for President would be a coup (for whatever partisan agenda he subscribes to)

He was apologizing because it sounded racist, and trying to explain that's not what he meant. But he got scared and went to a break instead of telling us what the word after coup was supposed to be.

[NashVegas]

21. I'm In Radio and I Agree

I once said "Eric Crapton" by mistake.

Even if it was a Freudian slip and somewhere in the back of his mind there's a history of prejudice, he apologized immediately.

His biggest mistake was in not skimming straight over the incident and completing his thought, or, if he had to highlight it, doing so in such a way that he would have dug himself out of the hole.

[qanda]

28. Right

He probably made it worse by concentrating so much on his mistake. Good to have you weigh in on this. Are you sure the Eric Crapton was a mistake? :)

[NashVegas]

43. Yeah, It Was

I'm not a Clapton fan, but I never even had the thought of that pronunciation, ever, not even to myself, before that. Never had a "don't think 'Crapton,' or don't say 'Crapton,'" moment.

That said ... if the guy does indeed have a trash mouth, off-air, where racial matters are concerned he may very well have been fired if management felt they couldn't trust him in the future. Or if they just don't like him. There's not much job security in this business, you can get fired for just about any reason.

[DarbyUSMC]

30. I'm not in radio but I often read words wrong. Sometimes it's funny ha-ha;

sometimes, not so much.

There is a site for misheard lyrics; maybe there is a site for misread words. IMO he shouldn't have been fired. Cripe, are we so sensitive and PC that we can't make a mistake, immediately apologize and correct ourselves without having to fear losing our jobs? I fear there is a dark cloud over our heads. :hide:

[Kire]

33. I agree

Also, he was only on the job three weeks and he had no ratings.

[cboy4]

38. What are you talking about?!?! I'm white by the way, but if I tell an

African American that he/she should not be allowed to use the same drinking fountain as myself, it's okay as long as I apologize immediately??

Don't you see that you're making exceptions for being a bigot as long as you say you're sorry?? :shrug:

[Lerkfish]

39. in fairness to the other poster, he's just saying how working in radio

he can see the possibility of flubbing something verbally.
Having worked briefly as a DJ myself, I can tell you its nerve wracking to try to say things clearly. There's a point where you're concentrating so hard on enunciation you lose track of what you were wanting to say.

However, I still vote for this being a freudian slip of a racist rather than an innocent flub.
but I think you're being unfair to the other poster, here.

[Kire]

41. even if it's racist

it's not malicious

[cboy4]

45. OMG, you're defending being a racist!!!!!!!

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Divine Discontent]

55. hi cboy4!

well, I like to think he COULD have slipped the tongue, but I don't know, I'd have to hear it, maybe it's so obv. but my fam (God help me!) loves to hunt and have said coon a lot more than coup and he did instantly apologize. I know, I know, probably being wayyyyy too nice. But, for now, I think it was a slip.


No, I haven't been drinking Kool-Aid. haha.. good to see ya on here!
And, yeah, don't you agree, the racist football fans would go CRAZY if she became NFL commish? lol.. "WHAT????? they gotta be kiddin!"

[cboy4]

60. Oh fuck you bitch... LOL!!!! Hehehe ;) Great to hear from you buddy!

Yea, maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed....................again!

But I just get tired of people defending hurtful language.....even if the language is accidental.

I know, I need to be a little less sensitive. It's something I need to work on. LOL

And yea, the football fans would go crazy. Who wants a "coon" running the NFL???? :rofl:

[Divine Discontent]

78. LOLOLOLOL

the oh fuck you bitch just made my day! besides watching Cyndi Lauper on VH1 classics performing with the singer from Train, Scott Weiland from S.T.P., and Shaggy...

oh and watching George shake it in the Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go video... ah, the 80's!

[cboy4]

87. I'm glad I made someone's day. Geeez

;)

[Kire]

70. I had something in my head when I posted it

but it's been a couple of hours and I forget what I was thinking

racism is malicious

I don't think this guy is racist, though.

[Marnieworld]

49. How is being racist not malicious?

Seriously, huh?

[Kire]

69. It is

I'm wrong. Sorry.

[Marnieworld]

81. Perhaps you meant that the original comment wasn't

malicious or that the intent behind the DJ was not. I agree it wasn't. I actually got to hear this clip today on the Stern Show and this guy really was sorry and really wasn't crticizing or ridiculing her at the time.

Do I think having that word even slip out is indicative of some underlying predjudice? I would bet money on it.

Anyway I see how even you could say (write) something and have it be taken the wrong way just like this guy. I didn't think they should have fired him for it and I won't condem you forever either. :hi:

[Kire]

40. he apologized for it sounding like "coon"

not for it being "coon"

[Inland]

64. Accidentally tell an A-A he should not use your drinking fountain?

After all, the question is, whether it was a verbal flub. If it was, then the premise that he is a bigot fails. I take it you are describing an actual intended bigotry, now what this guy did.

Now, supppose you drank out of a water fountain and after slobbering on it, remember that you are just getting over a vicious flu bug. You turn to the african american waiting his turn behind you and say, "You shouldn't be drinking out of the same fountain as me." By your logic, nobody should forgive you for being a bigot. By mine, I would say that you might have made a particularly unfortunate mistake.

[cboy4]

67. No, no, no. My point (in addressing post #21) was this person

implied that if someone has a "history of prejudice," all you have to do every time is apologize for accidentally saying a slur.

Don't apologize for the slur. Apologize for having a history of prejudice.

You're arguing with someone who is gay. If someone has a history of saying Fag around me all the time, an apology is not going to make me feel better.

What's going to make me feel better is that person working on changing his/her behavior.

[NashVegas]

76. My Thinking at the Time I Wrote That

Please think about the whole phrase, "somewhere in the back of his mind there's a history of prejudice." I was not speaking of actions. Back of the mind. Not a place one normally reaches to.

Some very nice white people are so self-segregated from the African-American community and so self-conscious about it, that when they meet a black person all they want to talk about is basketball and Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, rap & '70s funk. I was speaking more about that kind of person.

[Marnieworld]

82. Have you seen Black & White on FX?

The white people on that show are exactly what you describe. I truly think they are not hateful but ignorant but still say horrible offensive things. It still says something about a person if they make it to well into adulthood and they haven't taken the time to even imagine what it is like to be another race. The mother on it in particular is almost child-like in her ignorance and her ignorance about her ignorance. There was this one scene where she is attempting to warmly praise a poet and refers to her as a beautiful "black creature". She had earlier called a black woman "bitch" because she thought that was a term of affection. Seriously. She is divorced from the history of racism and oppression. She is clueless as to how someone could hear and interpret being called a "creature." Hateful? No. So stupid you want to smack her. Absolutely. I watched one episode but I can't go back.

[NashVegas]

84. No

But I've seen that kind of behavior offscreen. They mean well, just ...

[brentspeak]

72. Not a good analogy

A slip of the tongue, the wrong consonant vs. a willful, outrageous denigration: They don't equate.

[mac56]

73. I'm in radio too.

It's something that radio announcers worry themselves sick over, whether they'll make a horrible slip of the tongue. You get going live on the air, and even with the very best of intentions something unintended can come out.

I agree with Crisco though. He should have recovered from it differently.

I'd feel awful if one of my employees made a slip like this.

[FredStembottom]

77. Thanks for that!

I did radio, too. Public radio with vast amounts of talk-time vs. commercial radio. Lots of room for really bad things to happen.

There is a consciousness that never leaves you while on-air. It's the NEVER EVER EVER NO MATTER WHAT (MAY GOD STRIKE ME DEAD IF I EVER DO) MAKE A VERBAL SLIP OF THE TYPE XXXXXXXX - worry.

It keeps you from doing a lot of bad stuff: from tossing in the F word to not con-joining words (or entire ideas) that could be viewed even upside down and backwards as racist or homophobic or...whatever. And this process has to take into account permutations of combinations that can be mistaken for a bad comment using thought processes that you see as deranged.

There is a drawback to this, however. This puts those VERY words and constructions in the forefront of your mind perhaps even more so than for the person who actually uses these things in his/her everyday speech. So just the act of talking about a black person (for example) activates a process that sorts and selects and scours every word and sentence just nano-seconds before it is said. All to prevent the career-ending slip. This was just as true for me - someone of mixed race - as anyone.

I nearly put the public station I was on OFF the air once. I was part of a comedy show at the time. During one of the live segments, I had to break away for the station ID. A mistake with a sound effect record happened and a goofy sound effect came through while I was identifying the station. It sounded like a motor-boat roaring away. So, still being in comedy mode, I added "a Chris-Craft station!". Why? Because there used to be a motor-boat roaring away on film that a local (and our area's most cheap and tacky) TV station used to use under their station ID's. I meant the joke to evoke that crummy piece of film in the listener's mind and get a self-effacing laugh about our own cheap, little station. It took .067 seconds to make that connection - and mistake.

Somehow, word of our station claiming to be part of the glorious Chris-Craft network when it sure as hell wasn't spread like wildfire and I had to be called in and informed that lawyers had called and threatened to put our little 250 watt station off the air if such a thing ever happened again!!!!! I barely got through that one, I believe.

So I have great sympathy for this guy who was fired. The bad words were INDEED in his mind while he spoke of a black woman. Lots of them. Right up front in a process meant to prevent just such a slip. To an extant no one who hasn't done live radio will ever experience.

And it often seems just a matter of time before this uber-awareness of career-ending bad words actually CAUSES just such a slip.

Just one explanation that everyone might not be aware of.

[adigal]

91. They are just being hoisted by their own petard

where "lib'ruls hate America" and are held accountable for everything they say, so too bad. He needed to be more careful. And "coon" is not an everyday word at all. He was thinking it, and it slipped out.

[mitchum]

46. I think he meant to say that she was "a good 'un"...

as his type are apt to do

[Divine Discontent]

52. gosh

Indianagreen and other don't think so!

I do, the man could have simply had a slip of the lip, it AIN'T HARD watch Dubya talk for any length of the time and you'll watch him butcher the language (yesterday he said "prophesy" instead of "prosyletize" when referring that he would be upset if Faith Based charities tried to force their views on needy), I can see how one would say coon instead of coup, and the argument that IndianaGreen said, "he has to use coon on a regular basis to say it", well SURE, my family hunts and says COON a lot more than they'd ever say the word COUP!


political correctness :puke:

The man IMMMMMMEDIATELY apologized with SORRY like 7 times!

[msgadget]

57. A mistake that anyone could make -

You have a point even though I only hear that word from two kinds of people - racists and raccoon hunters of the old school. I hate over-sensitivity as well and commend you for your common sense but, unless this guy's a hunter, there was a disconnect between what he was saying and what he was thinking.

That being said, I don't think the president is a racist, nor are all his fans. He's an equal opportunity classist and a facilitator for the rich and powerful.

[bunkerbuster1]

65. I'm trying to say "A big coup in the NFL"

without it sounding like "coon." It's not that easy. Just sayin'.

[RamboLiberal]

74. I heard the clip this morning and feel the station overreacted

Maybe it was a freudian slip - maybe just a stupid slip of the tongue. The guy was apologizing profusely right after the slip and sounded like he really admired Condi and is a Bushbot.

IMHO the station management way overreacted.

I'd love to see all the idiot Bushbot pundits fired - but not this way.

Is this guy a sports talk host? Amazing to me how many of them are Bushbots.

[progressivebydesign]

95. qanda, that's my take on it too.

If it's just a terrible slip of the tongue, and it sounded like he was fixing to die right after he said it, then I'd really hope that he's given a second chance. Rush Limbaugh says things that are so racist and vile, all the time, and he's still around.

[noiretextatique]

101. really...how often do you accidentally call someone "whitey?"

it's never happened to me, accidentally.

[IndianaGreen]

34. I am sure he uses that epithet on a regular basis

There is no way one can use "coon" for coup unless one uses that epithet on a regular basis.

BTW, I have heard people use the word "coon" around here and in Kentucky, but they always refer to racoons, and it is within the context of hunting. We have lots of racoons where I live and they get into everything, and they scare my dog because they are much bigger than him.

[Kire]

35. there is a way

use a word that starts with N after it

[Marnieworld]

50. reminds me of the Forrest Gump line

When they are integrating the U of Alabama someone whispered to him, "They're trying to stop coons from going in the school" and Forrest says, "I don't see why that's a problem. Whenever we have raccoons trapped under our porch Mama always just chases them out with a broom."

Love that Forrest.
:D

[IndianaGreen]

86. I love that Forrest too!

Great quote!

:-)

[Kire]

42. If he meant "she" he would have used the article "whom" not "which"

the fact that she was African American, that is the subject "which" would be a coup (followed by the N word)

Have you ever heard anyone say, "She, which would kind of be a big coon"? No, because it is not the right

[superconnected]

51. what is a coon?

I understand from this thread that he was saying coup and then +n, but the coon rendition seems to be what ppl are focusing on as being racist.

[Divine Discontent]

54. coon

short for RACCOON. coon has been a term that people used for African-Americans to belittle them for the color of their skin. it's sick, and I've heard the reference several times. however, this man could easily say the word "coon" several times a month like my friends and family do because they hunt and say things like, "it was a big ol' coon in the bushes!", so he probably says coon, more than he says coup. I mean, come ON, the guy apologized profusely right afterward, and if he doesn't have (I have NO idea) a pattern of ever saying racist things before on air, then it's so wrong to fire him. maybe they had other reasons or knew he was being racist, I dunno, but just from reading the story, I side with the high possibility it was a slip of the tongue. coup-coon are very similar and not common words!

[Laughing Mirror]

56. coon is a racial epithet

on par with nigger, nig, jig, jungle bunny, jigaboo, spade, shvartze ..., and these are just those I remember from my childhood, and I could probably go on singing. American English is rich in racist pejorative terms for African Americans.

[brentspeak]

71. self-del

s/del

[goclark]

75. Hope they let "Lil Condi Hear him say it

Maybe that will help her wake up and let her know what Amerika really thinks of her.

[bkcc]

97. If she's Republican, I'm sure she's heard it before.

Many, many times if I had to guess.

[tomhayes]

79. Stop acting so niggardly with your understanding...

If he *meant* to say COUP but said 'coon' it's proabbly a slip of the tongue. Not liek Rush Limbaugh calling Ray Nagin "Ray Niggar".

[Name removed]

80. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

85. Deleted message

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[shadowknows69]

83. Having been in radio

I have some sympathy for this guy. Sometimes your mouth just doesn't work like you planned it to and once you crack that mic it's too late to turn back. I once while announcing it was time for daylight savings time told my listeners to make sure to set their cocks back one hour. One letter mispronounced can be disaster for public speakers. I was lucky that my mistake was only offensive to roosters. ;-)

[CreekDog]

89. To those here who cannot accept the mistake he made:

Thank you for reading his mind and determining his racism and his intent.
--we should all be punished for what we say (if others think we mean it)
--we should be punished for what we think (especially if we have Freudian slips and is apparently revealed)

Thank you also for your lack of tolerance of an admitted mistake.
--people should be fired for mistakes even if they admit them and try to repair them

Thank you for also raising the bar on providing forgiveness and accepting an apology
--The Lord's standard was just a little too easy for all of us

In closing, those who judge this guy, please enlighten me further so that I might attain perfection and therefore the ability to judge others thoughts and motives and thereby the righteousness to determine that they deserved what they got.

God help your children if they are ever in a bad situation and judged as harshly as some here are judging this guy.

[maxrandb]

92. He's on AM Radio Ain't he?

"was he a RW Bush-lover?"

I'd say there's about a 99.9999999% chance that he's a "wing-nut".

There's two frequencies on radio now. FM and GOP.

[progressivebydesign]

94. Ouch. He probably mixed "coup" with "boon"...

Didn't sound like the guy had a racist history... Sometimes you say the things you're trying not to say. I vote that his words combined a big "boon" with "coup".

I just can't tell if this was just a one time screw up. Hate to see someone's career destroyed over something that seemed to be a total accident...

[phrenzy]

99. Another One Of Threads That Makes Me Embarassed Of Some DUers

Good lord - "See! See! He's a RACIST! - that word couldn't possibly escape your mouth under ANY circumstances unless you were a CLOSET racist!"

These are the types of liberals I could never stand to spend a long period of time with. They drive me nuts. And I'm a FLAMING liberal, just not one of the kind that feels the need to see covert evil in every mistake a person makes.

Also one of those things that makes me feel that 'we' really are no better than 'them' - because some of us will take the slightest event and try to turn it into proof the other side is scum, even if we know it is a bogus claim.

Thank god I see evidence of intelligence and proportion in this thread also. DUers are not afraid to debate each other.

[Psephos]

104. What you said needed to be said. n/t

[noiretextatique]

102. i've been speaking publically for almost ten years now

hosting fundraisers, and i almost never prepare ahead of time. i have never "slipped" and used a racial epithet or racially offensive language BECAUSE <drumroll> i am not in the HABIT of using racial slurs.
i think the radio station should have accepted his apology and not fired him, btw...but he said what he said, and he is responsible for it.
my personal opinion is that he's probably used racial epithets before, hence his slip, but it could also have been a slip of the tongue.
at any rate, his apology afterwards should have been sufficient.

[Kire]

106. self delete

[Catchawave]

105. Isn't there anything in Rush's bloviations against liberals

that can get him fired too? Life just ain't fair :cry: