During an interview with Howard Kurtz, Fox News exec Roger Ailes lashed out at NPR executives over their firing of Juan Williams, saying they are “Nazis” that have a “Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism.”

Politico reports that Ailes has apologized to the Anti Defamation League for his comments, saying he was “ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word”:

“I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word,” Ailes wrote in a letter to Abe Foxman, ADL's national director. “but I was angry at the time because of NPR's willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough.”

Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, replied: “I welcome Roger Ailes apology, which is as sincere as it is heartfelt. Nazi comparisons of this nature are clearly inappropriate and offensive. While I wish Roger had never invoked that terminology, I appreciate his efforts to immediately reach out and to retract his words before they did any further harm.”

According to NPR's David Folkenlik, an NPR spokeswoman says that Ailes has not apologized to NPR directly for his comments.

And of course, Ailes' comments are entirely in character Fox News. If he agrees that Nazi comparisons are inappropriate, he should have a word with his employees that regularly use Nazi and Holocaust imagery to smear Democrats and progressives.

UPDATE:

Michael Calderone has the text of the full letter Ailes sent to the ADL, as well as Foxman's response. Ailes says he should have called NPR execs “nasty, inflexible bigot[s]” instead, and defends Beck's Soros attacks:

I'm writing this just to let you know some background but also to apologize for using “Nazi” when in my now considered opinion “nasty, inflexible bigot” would have worked better. Juan Williams is a good man and like you a friend. And my friends never have to worry about me sticking up for them--even if I'm occasionally politically incorrect I never leave any doubts about my loyalty.