Sucks for this guy. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/23/djfired.rice.ap/index.html ST. LOUIS, Missouri (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." Lenihan had been heaping praise on Rice, who has frequently said she aspires to run the NFL one day but has more recently ruled out seeking to replace retiring Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "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. KTRS listeners soon began calling the station to complain. Twenty minutes after the utterance, Dorsey went on the air to apologize to Rice and KTRS listeners. "There can be no excuse for what was said," Dorsey said. "Dave Lenihan has been let go. ... There is enough hate. We certainly are not going to fan those flames." NAACP chapter president Harold Crumpton commended Dorsey for his swift action. Reached at home, Lenihan said he was still trying to figure out what happened and was drafting a letter of apology to Rice. He said he never uses the slur he uttered and thinks Rice is "a fantastic woman." Lenihan, formerly a drive-time host at WGNU radio in St. Louis, had been at KTRS for less than two weeks. "It was my dream job," he said. "Ratings were going well. It kind of stinks."
At least he did not say house ******. But seriously, it read like he made a mistake and was sorry for it. If this is really an isolated incidence, one has to wonder if he po-ed the conservative owners with their crazy big Condi Love or the blacks listening to the show. I suspect the former.
I think that was too harsh. He made a mistake and instantly apologized for it. Sometimes these things happen, Steve Kerr called Yao a Chinamen, but he wasn't fired for it. He earnestly apologized and life moved on.
Sometimes I wonder how these slips of the tongues don't happen more often, bad thought leads to bad speech, something like that, you can tell when someone is holding something back.
Any media outlet's success is totally based on image. What people think of the place. If the public's idea is that the station doesn't mind it's hosts using racial clurs, then guess what, advertisers will drop like flies. Sorry, but that is the truth. They had no choice but to fire the guy.
Seems awfully harsh to fire the guy. He used the wrong word. Why would he praise her and then call her a coon in the same sentence? If you look at the quote, it's clear he meant to say "coup" because saying "coon" in that context doesn't even make sense. Besides, if every talk radio host was fired for saying something stupid, there would be no talk radio.
FYI, an ESPN sportscaster recently got axed for dropping an F-bomb on the air inexplicably. Same thing happened here in Austin to a local sports reporter, John Flores. If you screw up on the air, chances are you'll be fired on the spot. See Ron Burgundy.
I keep dreading the day that I go to get a haircut and ask for a "wash, cut and blow job". I am convinced it will eventually happen.
IMO he should be fired (j/k) for saying Condi was "chancellor of Stanford." No, she was the Provost, not Chancellor.
Seems unduly harsh. Makes me wonder if the station already didn't like him and used the excuse to be rid of him.
