Boortz Issues apology over McKinney smears
SUMMARY: Neal Boortz issued an apology for his remarks that Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) looks like "a ghetto slut," saying, "I've known Cynthia McKinney for a long time, and there is no way in the world that that word should be used to describe her or her hairdo or any woman."
On the April 3 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Neal Boortz issued an apology for his remarks about Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), stating, "I've known Cynthia McKinney for a long time, and there is no way in the world that that word should be used to describe her or her hairdo or any woman." As Media Matters for America noted, Boortz said that McKinney, "looks like a ghetto slut" during the March 31 broadcast of his radio program, and later added that he didn't "blame them [Capitol police] for stopping" McKinney during a March 29 incident at the Capitol because she had a "ghetto trash" haircut and "looked like a welfare drag queen [that] was trying to sneak into the Longworth House Office Building." In issuing the apology, Boortz added that it "won't mean anything to people who consider any negative comment or criticism of any type at any time about anybody who is not white to be racism."
From April 3 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show:
BOORTZ: OK, folks, let's admit it. I stepped in it big time on Friday, and I am here to apologize. In fact, I apologized almost -- I put an apology on my website almost as soon as I was off the air on Friday. But I haven't been on the air since then, and it was during this hour that I screwed up. So I will apologize to you here.
Now, this apology really isn't for the people that hate me. It's for the listeners that actually like me that I disappointed, and for Cynthia McKinney. I had something very unflattering to say about her hairstyle. You see, now why is her hairstyle an issue? In this whole mistaken-identity case, her hairstyle may be an issue because it might be the reason that the police officer did not recognize her. I said on the air -- to some disagreement from my colleagues, I might add -- that her old hairstyle of the braids had class and it easily identified Cynthia McKinney, and the she goes to a new hairstyle, she doesn't get recognized, and all of the sudden, the cop is a racist.
At any rate, the new hairstyle --kind of wild and crazy, every-hair-going-in-a-different-direction thing. And I said on the air, and this is where I was wrong, I wrote on my webpage that it looked like ghetto trash and I said it made her look like a ghetto slut. Well, I've known Cynthia McKinney for a long time, and there is no way in the world that that word should be used to describe her or her hairdo or any woman -- unless she really is -- or her hairdo. And I was totally and absolutely wrong, and I was overboard, and I apologize to Cynthia McKinney for that statement, and I apologize to any one of my listeners who were disappointed in me for that. I apologize to you also.
Now, if you were listening to me last week, you probably heard other comments, like the fact that on a personal basis I find her rather engaging and endearing, but that doesn't count when you use a word like this. So I was wrong, and when I am, folks, I will admit it with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever. Now, this apology will mean absolutely nothing to those people who consider every word ever uttered by somebody who is not a liberal to be hate speech. And it won't mean anything to people who consider any negative comment or criticism of any type at any time about anybody who is not white to be racism.
He sounds sensere, despite his snear towards liberals. Hope he will not repeat it again. I do agree with him, though, that it is not a case of racism, and playing that card will hurt mrs. McKinney probably more than it will help her. Not everything is racism, especially in these days with strict security. Let's wait for the report.
I would consider very few of my friends to be racist in the slightest. None of them would say anything remotely similar, even if drunk. Even if they had a disrespect for someone's political viewpoints.
I do, however, have a racist business partner. He and his ilk think nothing of making this kind of statement. Dinner parties with them are a test of my ability to stay in a room without screaming.
So maybe the comment is not repugnant simply because of race, but it does point to a man who has no respect for people who are not exactly like him. If you are not an angry white man, then you're fair game for crappy comments like his.
Apology accepted only if he never says something like this again... yeah, I know, give him a day or two.
the seed is planted now.
Is it really an apology when Bore-tz disqualifies groups of people from his statement? This liberal was buying it until he got to his lefty smear garbage. What a tool.
I still think he deserves credit for the apology.
But you're right in that he really undercuts his sincerity by tacking on the lib bashing at the end.
Look at Limbaugh's "apology" that MMFA also posts today: he can't even say he's sorry without dragging in someone else - in this case, an actor.
It's childish: "I'm sorry, Mom, but Johnny did something worse!"
Boortz's apology isn't nearly as bad, but he still felt he had to drag someone else down during the course of it - maybe it's his way of saving face. It doesn't do much to convince me he really means it, but I will concede that's a matter of taste, and give him the benefit of the doubt.
have we seen McKinney apologize yet??? still waiting on that one...
She doesn't need to apologize. If she ever does say something that warrants an apology, we'll get back to you.
apologizing for slugging the cop, playing the race card or spending $1,000 of our money flying in Isaac Hayes?
Boortz (whoever he is, I haven't found in on my radio dial) should have apologized for being low class. There is plenty of ammo to hammer Ms. McKinney with than having to stoop to personal insults.
"Weird how concerned you are with McKinney allegedly spending $1,000 to fly in Isaac Hayes (dumb rumor you are spreading)"...by heru
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NOT a "rumor"...McKinney has ADMITTED this um...indiscretion and her staff has announced she will reimburse the congressional fund.
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"...when you could care less that the Commander in Thief you elected is throwing hundreds of billions of our money down the Iraq hole just so he could play with Saddam's pistol in the Oval Office."...by heru
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While I AGREE with you on the point about billions of dollars being thrown down the Iraq hole...THIS is a "strawman" argument...you know that "charge" YOU guys throw out so often when the shoes on the OTHER foot. It has NOTHING to do with the McKinney situation.
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"The hypocrisy of you people never ceases to amaze me"....by heru
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Funny, I was thinking the same thing... about YOU guys.
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As far as Boortz and his "apology" goes...I don't buy it. The guy is clearly a racist. There is NO other explanation for his personal attack on Ms. McKinney. HOWEVER, he had every RIGHT, as do we ALL, to CRITICIZE Cynthia McKinney for her ACTIONS.
I'm probably one of the MORE moderate Conservatives here, and one who has FROM THE START voiced my opposition to the Iraq War and my disgust with the CURRENT administration. Furthermore I have NEVER written ANYTHING on this forum that could even be slightly misconstrued as RACIST...yet YOU ignore what I wrote in my post, and my very valid points, and ATTACK me personally without provocation. IF you can't refute a thing I wrote, fine, but WHY write something to make yourself look so foolish&petty?
Good job heru. You're a real credit to the Liberal cause.
Tom Delay was a slippery, pardon me, moderate con too. Here's to his "retirement"!
ROFLMAO
Just because others are doing something wrong doesn't mean we should ignore smaller cases of wrongdoing. Cynthia McKinney flying in Isaac Hayes on taxpayers' dollars was wrong; period.
I will say that as much as I personally detest McKinney and her father, she did admit wrongdoing in that case, and offered to reimburse the expenses. I'm not sure if she ever extended an actual apology, but with most politicians an admission of wrongdoing is about as close as you can get.
What is an apology if there is no remorse, no regret, and no true commitment to prevent it from happening again?
Did you file your FCC complaint?? I did!
So; did anyone want to give me odds??
a. Do nothing about complaint?? 3:5 ??
b. Acknowledge complaint and take under advisement, vaselate. 5:1???
c. Fine him like Stern, or Janet Jackson??? 1500:1 ??
Come on Neo-Con Hypo??
Happy Thoughts;
Dan Grady
Aren't liberals historically supposed to encourage free speech, rather than try and stifle it? The fact that his comments were distasteful and offensive shouldn't matter; it's his opinion, and he has every right to voice it.
The point isn't that his comment was racism.
The point is that SAYING it proves that BOORTZ is a racist.
Boortz is a racist, and he meant what he said. Why do you think he said it? Duhhh.
He said it because he meant it. There is no apology for that. Only knowing that he is a racist.
I suspect that his employers received volumes of e-mails and phone calls and this was probably coupled with some political heavy weights putting a bug in Boortz's ear about how damaging this could potentially be to the causes he champions. That's probably what prompted this apology. These guys are making the right look very bad, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that if they continue with this rhetoric it's going to cost the right politically. They are going to drive away people who don't want to be associated with this. I doubt if the right can survive politically made up of only racists and the sympathizers who defend them.
For Boortz to have apologized, there must have a lot of pressure on him. If he was a liberal pundit, an apology would not have sufficed. Fox and Company would have forced him to get fired.
Talk show host fired after on-air racial slur By Jake Wagman ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 03/22/2006
David Lenihan
A radio personality at 550 KTRS was fired on the spot this morning after using the word “coon” on the air in a conversation about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Dave Lenihan was dismissed after what he called an inadvertent slip of the tongue. Within 20 minutes, station CEO Tim Dorsey apologized on the air to listeners and announced that Lenihan, who had been with the station for less than two weeks, had been let go.
“I don’t know what was in Mr. Lenihan’s mind,” Dorsey said in an interview. “I know what I heard. I know it was reprehensible.”
WITHIN 20 MINUTES a local DJ was fired. And Boortz and OxyRush still can spew hatred year after year?
you're complaining about what Boortz and Limbaught said...hmm, but no complaints about Air America running clips of the President being gunned down and murdered....or being called a murderer....
Not the topic at hand. Racist comments vs bad taste.
Maybe you should ask the poster if he thinks Air America was wrong instead of making an assumption. Let's see... switch topics, present strawman, make assumptions... don't ever let anone tell you that you belong in a circle of rational discourse.
McKinney is not a "ghetto sl$t", however, Bush is a murderer. Bush gave the order to send troops to Iraq. Bush is the reason many Iraqis are dead. Bush is a murderer. Bush has caused American servivemembers to get murdered. Bush lied. Bush's lies caused murders. Bush is a murderer.
Your charge sounds extremely harsh; that Bush has unnecessarily caused many deaths is the worst accusation that can be made against a human being.
Yet, when death is called, and the reason/justification proves to be FALSE, can there be any other logical conclusion?
In a simple trial, one man kills another, and takes the stand in his defense. "I had to kill him, he was a threat. He was armed." says the defendant. It turns out, all evidence shows the man was NOT armed. What is the jury to think? Unjustified homicide.
Yet, in this case, the defendant is allowed to take the stand AGAIN and change his story. "The world is better off without this guy," he says. Problem here: no matter HOW bad the man was, unless he represented an immediate mortal threat, killing him is MURDER.
Again, the defendant takes the stand. "I have a plan, and it will eventually mean the world will be more peaceful. So I had to kill this man." Future speculations? This is no defense for murder. No jury would even consider such a defense.
So, HARSH? Yes. An unavoidable conclusion? Unfortunately ....
...what Limbaugh did. When Limbaugh called the alleged rape victim a 'ho, he turned the attention to Keanu Reeves. Grhino tried to turn the attention here from Boortz to Air America. Be a big boy (or a big girl), Grhino.
You can even be like Boortz (and Rush). Boortz erred. Boortz apologized. This is the time for the grownups to receive the apology: not the time for you to whine about what the kids across the street did.
This is so typical of what the right wing ideologues do here. They will never address the topic; they must learn this deflect and distract strategy in right wing school or something. The right wing politicians do this as well. I was watching Bill Maher Friday night. Bill Maher kept asking Republican congressman Dana Rachenbacher why out of all the dictators in the world did the Bush administration selected Sadam Hussein to remove from office via the military (this seems to be the latest reason for the Iraq war). He spinned, he deflected, he distracted until he came up with some lame excuse that Sadam had a "blood feud" with the US and the other dictators didn't. Now what that means is anyone's guess.
You complain about a radio parody, yet say nothing about the Nazis killing 6 million Jews. Why aren't you bothered by the holocaust?
Message: You apologized only to the Conservatives. Why not apologize to Progressives as well? The majority of Americans are insulted to have you as a voice-piece. You and your ilk are the reason I am embarrassed when I travel abroad.
The only people I know who would ever say something so crass are Conservatives, so why bother apologizing to them? They didn't think an apology was necessary.
Non-response: Progressives? You mean the socialists? ------- Huh? That's a response? Another Limbaugh/O'Reilly/Boortz/Hannity play with wording? These people think that by changing the subject all is well (or worse, they were not wrong.). Amazing. Idiots, all of them.
He should have expounded to say he never apologizes to socialists if that is what he meant.
I will have to search the web to see if his show can be picked up.
I am curious, do you believe progressives are socialists?
He apologized so should we let it go?
I'm not sure.
Another poster said it best. They let their thoughts and the language they use in private slip on the public airwaves. This is who these people are. That said, I no human being is beyond redemption. Boortz and Limbaugh can aknowledge and then disavow their racist ways.
Even ardent racist George Wallace did that. He made a public apology to the people of his state, Blacks in general, and to God; and then he preceeded to put these new sentiments into action by appointing numbers of Blacks in state government positions during his second term as governor of AL in the 70's. And we can't forget Sen Byrd who once was a member of the KKK. I'll wait for those types of apologies from Boortz and Limbaugh.
He's egotistical and his swipes at liberals aside, at least he's trying to make up for a mistake.
Good going, Boortz. And good going, Media Matters. Because media does matter.
before, and he claims to be Libertarian, but he's always shilling for the right. Won't allow the topic of abortion on his show. I think the apology was pretty good, and I hate to say it, but Cynthia is as nutty as a fruit cake. The proudest day in my voting life was when Bob Barr and Cynthia Mckinney couldn't get out of their primaries in 2002.
He's publicly stated that the reason for not allowing abortion to be discussed on the show is because it boils down to a matter based purely on personal beliefs--there's no hard data to support either side, and as such, debate on the issue is entirely unproductive.
Think about it; the last time you discussed abortion with someone who disagreed with you, how did it go? At least with other political issues, there's the possibility of changing an opinion or proving your position. Reasonable people can often disagree, and voice their disagreement, but remain civil. Abortion debates virtually always devolve into personal attacks, conjecture, and yelling. It's just too personal a topic to address on radio.
Why don't you just get off the public airwaves if you can't be respectul, ...go into the chicken waste disposal business; or sell used carpeting.....but get off the damn radio, you foul mouthed piece of junk....
But don't forget,Boortz is a Vietnam War Piper Cub Ace Fighter Pilot(protected the Flute Section of the Marching Band from the Viet Cong Air Force),a graduate of Texas A&M University(Ask him),holds a law license that allows him only to practice in Ga.( Law school still not fully accredited by the ABA,but has been around since 1933).
In my humble opinion, Boortz is not a racist nor a bigot. I am a black man that has listened to him for years. Boortz is extremely pollitcally incorrect and if you do something odd, he is going to call you out on it no matter who or what color you are. If a black radio host said what he said, it would not have made a difference on this site. Just because he is white and conservative, their is a double standard. It is his opinion. It is not like he called her the n word. He said she looked like a ghetto sl*t. Is it wrong? Yes. Is it racist? No. Boortz and McKinney have a long history mostly because of the stuff McKinney has done. She has provide more than enough material for him to talk about over the years.
Osiris yes. You no.
what makes you think I am not black?
Cynthia McKinney is a joke and this crap she is trying to pull is a total slap in the face to the real racism experience by my parents and grandparents.
(excerpted) REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE: First of all, I think all of us, including Congresswoman McKinney, respects the Capitol police and respects them for their responsibility and their job. But I believe that she is quite accurate in the fact that there are very few of us who happen to be African American women, andthere are very few of us who would be so, if you will, difficult to be remembered, if you will, or to be able to be noticed. And frankly, many of us get either confused or asked for our I.D. or treated in a manner that is not necessarily accepting. And in this incident it was unfortunate. But it is the role of the Capitol police, of whom we respect, to basically know the members of the United States Congress. And if you are rushing toward a vote, a House vote-- and I think people should understand we have 15 minutes to cast a vote no matter where you might be in the entire capital of Washington, D.C. You might be in meetings off the Hill. You still have 15 minutes to vote. It's very difficult then to be stopped, while the clock is ticking, for you to cast your vote.
AMY GOODMAN: Has this ever happened to you, where you were not recognized?
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE: Oh, on several occasions. And, of course, you haveto suffer the indignity and sometimes handle it in a way that you don't care to handle it, because of the fact that you believe that you've served in the United States Congress and that you should be identifiable. So there is merit to the points that she is making. And there certainly may some concerns about securing the Capitol, which we understand has taken a whole different tone after 9/11. But I think cooler heads can address this question in a way other than the criminal justice system of issuing an arrest warrant for a member of the United States Congress, who was within her right to be in the building and was within her right to be rushing toward the House floor to vote, as I understand the facts, and certainly should have had the courtesies of the Capitol police, as we should extend courtesies. So why can't this be resolved, where we learn who each other happens to be and we improve the picture book, if you will, and the training, so that we all can be fully identified. There is no requirement, by the way, for any member to have an I.D. We do have them. But we may have been rushing from somewhere and not carrying the I.D., and there is no requirement for us to have a pin, which is our identifying pin, which I happen to be wearing at this time. But there is no requirement, as I understand it, for members to have that at this time.
All that proves is that Capitol police don't recognize some congresspeople, and that those particular ones think it's about race.
This article from CBS News cites other Representatives of varying age, gender, political party, and race who've all been stopped repeatedly--and none of them see malicious intent or unjust profiling.
I'm not saying that black congresswomen aren't stopped proportionally more often. However, it's irresponsible to make these kinds of claims without any sort of statistics--and only a single anecdote--to support your belief.