http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0707savage-fired07-ON.html
MSNBC fires Savage after anti-gay remarks
Associated Press Jul. 7, 2003 01:00 PM
NEW YORK - MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments.
The popular radio talk show host who did a weekend TV show for the cable channel referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die."
"His comments were extremely inappropriate and the decision was an easy one," MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said ....
-gr
On Mon, 7 Jul 2003, Max B. Sawicky wrote:
> Our local Clear Channel station is running ads for Savage
> where he calls the (unnamed) president of the ACLU a "pervert."
>
> mbs
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org]On
> Behalf Of Doug Henwood
> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 4:35 PM
> To: lbo-talk
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Fwd: Savage Homophobia on MSNBC
>
>
> FAIR-L
> Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
> Media analysis, critiques and activism
>
> ACTION ALERT:
> Savage Homophobia on MSNBC:
> Michael Savage tells caller: "Get AIDS and die"
>
> July 7, 2003
>
> When radio talkshow host Michael Savage was given his own show by the
> cable TV channel MSNBC, network executives said that the new show should
> not be judged by Savage's previous hate-filled remarks, but by what he
> said on the TV show itself. A recent outburst by Savage, however,
> suggests that the host's prejudice and hatefulness have not been
> constrained by his new venue.
>
> The incident started when a caller to Michael Savage's July 5 MSNBC show,
> Savage Nation, apparently tried to get some kind of prank on the show.
> Savage responded with a homophobic tirade. Here's the transcript from the
> Nexis news media database:
>
>
> ---
> SAVAGE: So you're one of those sodomists. Are you a sodomite?
>
> UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.
>
> SAVAGE: Oh, you're one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die,
> you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got
> nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got
> nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it. Get trichinosis.
>
> OK, do we have another nice caller here who's busy because he didn't have
> a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today? Get me another one,
> put another sodomite on. No more calls out of-- let's go to the next
> scene. I don't care about these bums. They mean nothing to me. They're all
> sausages. Next scene; onto the next scene on the Savage Nation.
> ---
>
>
> This does not seem to be the first time Savage has made such comments; the
> San Jose Mercury News reported (2/27/99) that "Savage has apologized to
> gay activists after saying he wished they would get AIDS." Such
> homophobia has long been an integral part of Savage's routine; when he
> wanted to insult the pro-gun control Million Mom March, for example, he
> dubbed it "the Million Dyke March" (5/15/00).
>
> He has spoken of "the grand plan, to push homosexuality to cut down on the
> white race" (San Francisco Bay Guardian, 9/20/00). In his book Savage
> Nation, he complained that Sen. Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court justices
> Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor have "feminized and
> homosexualized much of America, to the point where the nation has become
> passive, receptive and masochistic."
>
> When critics pointed out these earlier remarks to MSNBC-- a cable channel
> co-owned by General Electric and Microsoft-- they were dismissed by MSNBC
> president Erik Sorenson, along with similar attacks on women and people of
> color. "He hasn't said anything bigoted or hateful on MSNBC," Sorenson
> told the St. Petersburg Times (3/7/03). "His main thrust for us is going
> to be national security. I'm going to watch his show...and I'm going to
> give him the benefit of the doubt."
>
> Asked about specific slurs made by Savage, like references to "homosexual
> perversion," Sorenson said: "Those statements as quoted by GLAAD and FAIR
> are not appropriate for MSNBC.... Those kinds of statements will not be
> permitted. And if they do happen, they won't happen more than once."
>
> Now that Savage has denounced a caller as "one of the sodomites" who
> "should only get AIDS and die," will Sorenson admit that Savage says
> things that are bigoted on his network? Or does he still describe Savage
> as someone "brash, passionate and smart" who's providing "compelling
> opinion and analysis with an edge"?
>
>
> ACTION: Please contact MSNBC to share your concerns about Michael Savage's
> bigotry:
>
> CONTACT:
> Neal Shapiro, NBC News President
> mailto:neal.shapiro at nbc.com
>
> Bob Wright, NBC President
> mailto:bob.wright at nbc.com
>
> Erik Sorenson, MSNBC President
> mailto:Erik.Sorenson at MSNBC.com
>
> MSNBC Feedback
> mailto:feedback at msnbc.com
>
> As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if
> you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair at fair.org with your
> correspondence.
>
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