A radio host in Buffalo, New York, was fired after comparing black women’s skin tones to toast, CBS affiliate WIVB reported. Cumulus Media, the owner of 97 Rock, announced Wednesday that Morning Bull radio presenter Rob Lederman has been fired and his other co-hosts, Rich Gaenzler and Chris Klein, have been suspended after committing to -a conversation that evaluated black women according to skin tone.
“Cumulus Media operates from a clearly defined set of programming principles, and there is no doubt that Rob Lederman’s comments on The Morning Bull Show directly violate those principles,” a company spokesman said in a statement. addressed to WIVB. “We quickly disbanded it and suspended the rest of the show’s talent. We apologize and deeply regret the incident.”
During the show, Lederman said that “I will never go with the Serena Williams level, but I am very comfortable with the Halle Berry level”.
“I need a little more mold to get through,” he said. In the audio, Brown also mentions co-host “CBS This Morning” as Gayle King.
“Morning Bull” aired Thursday morning. The cover photo of the post on Twitter showed Lederman and Gaenzler starting Thursday afternoon.
CBS News screenshot
While the “Morning Bull” episode was no longer available, ESPN reporter Marcel Louis-Jacques aired a 45-second clip of the show online. In reply to a Twitter user, Louis-Jacques he explained the severity of Lederman’s comments.
“There is already an unhappy and undeserved stigma related to dark skin – so Rob to take something unwanted like toast and compare it to any person’s skin color is reprehensible and feeds on that stigma,” he wrote on Twitter.
The remarks drew the attention of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, among others, in which he condemned the comments, calling them “outrageous and intolerable. There is no place in our society for these statements or beliefs, “he said.
Various advertising partners of the show they pulled their ads from the show due to the remarks. Pegula Sports & Entertainment He also severed ties with one of the show’s hosts, who served as the arena host for the Buffalo Sabers and Bandits.
Lederman told The Buffalo News that he was “horrified” by his words after listening to a recording.
“I could easily see how someone could be offended by this,” he told reporters. “I see.”