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 Rob Lederman, host of “Morning Bull” radio, was released and his other co-hosts, Rich Gaenzler and Chris Klein, were suspended after participating in a conversation that classified black women according to their 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. and WIVB. “We quickly dismissed him and suspended the rest of the show’s live talent. We apologize and deeply regret the incident.”
On the show, Lederman said “I would never go with the Serena Williams level, but I’m very comfortable at the Halle Berry level.”
“I need some mulatto to still arrive,” he said. In the audio, Brown also mentions Gayle King’s co-host, co-host of “CBS This Morning.”
“Morning Bull” remained out of the air Thursday morning. The station’s cover photo on Twitter showed Lederman and Gaenzler starting Thursday afternoon.
Screenshot of CBS News
Although the “Morning Bull” episode was no longer available, ESPN reporter Marcel Louis-Jacques shared a 45-second clip of the program online. In reply to a Twitter user, Louis-Jacques explained the seriousness of Lederman’s comments.
“There’s already an unfortunate and undeserved stigma attached to dark skin, so Rob takes something undesirable like burnt toast and compares it to anyone’s skin color, it’s reprehensible and feeds on that stigma he tweeted.
The statements caught the attention of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, among others, in which he condemned the comments, calling them “outrageous and intolerable. There is no room in our society for such statements or beliefs, ”he said.
Several advertising partners of the program they posted their ads of the show due to the observations. Pegula Sports & Entertainment he also broke ties with one of the show’s hosts, who served as host of the Buffers Sabers and Bandits arena.
Lederman told The Buffalo News that he was “horrified” by his words after listening to a recording.
“I could easily see how someone might feel offended by this,” he told reporters. “I understand”.