WASHINGTON, Oct 1, 2010 (AFP) - Rick Sanchez, a CNN television anchor, was fired on Friday after calling a popular comedian a "bigot" and suggesting the TV industry, including his own news network, is run by Jews.
"Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well," CNN said in a terse statement released less than 24 hours after the afternoon anchor made his controversial comments.
Sanchez, in an interview on comedian Pete Dominick’s Sirius XM radio show on Thursday, lashed out at comedian Jon Stewart, who has used his program, "The Daily Show" on the Comedy Central network, to poke fun at Sanchez.
"I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot," Sanchez said.
Asked to elaborate, Sanchez, a Cuban-American, said Stewart is bigoted "against anybody who doesn’t agree with his point of view, which is very much a white liberal establishment point of view.
"He can’t relate to a guy like me. He can’t relate to a guy whose dad worked all his life," he said. "He can’t relate to somebody who grew up poor."
Sanchez later moderated his description of Stewart, saying "OK, I’ll take the word ’bigot’ back, I’ll say ’prejudicial.’"
When the radio interviewer pointed out that Stewart is Jewish and also a member of a minority group, Sanchez replied, sneering: "Yeah, very powerless people... Please, what are you kidding me?
"I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart," he said. "And a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart.
"And to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah."
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Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Monday, October 4th 2010 at 1:24PM
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