MSNBC fires Savage after anti-gay remarks

Associated Press ^ | Jul. 7, 2003 01:00 PM

[sakic]

NEW YORK - MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments.

The popular radio talk show host who did a weekend TV show for the cable channel referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die."

[sakic]

Good riddance.

[Michael Barnes]

He asked for another phone caller who "didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today."

This had me roaring..

[cmsgop]

"sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die."

DoH !!!!

[new cruelty]

"You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? "

Sounds like Savage has a few personal issues to deal with.

[Semper Paratus]

Suprised he lasted that long.

[ffusco]

This will only help him. He is now a pariah again.

[The Iguana]

Not exactly full of Christian charity.

Mike must have been having a bad day.

[jacket]

aww, someone poor little ears got offended.

[fuente]

Like nobody saw this coming?

[Burkeman1]

I have only listened to Savage for about the past two months and only off and on. He struck me as unbelievably shallow and just a mean guy who often would never allow a caller to flesh out their opinion before slapping them down with non sequiturs and verbal abuse. He was the anti Rush.

[sakic]

More than a few issues. Makes me wonder whether he self-destructed subconsciously on purpose.

Always seemed like a self-promoting ahole to me. Every other sentence was devoted to hawking his book.

[quark]

"...get AIDS and die, you pig...go eat a sausage and choke on it."

Classic.

[finnman69]

Well clearly Savage is into saying what's on his mind. Mike should not feel too bad. MSNBC is a loser network with garbage ratings.

[usastandsunited]

MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage for anti-gay comments.

I consider the title misleading. Those weren't anti-gay comments. They were ruthless, irresponsible comments that he should not have made & I don't feel sorry for him for getting fired.
An anti-gay comment would something to the effect that "homosexual behavior is wrong". I'll stand by anyone's right to make that comment.

[sakic]

aww, someone poor little ears got offended.

Those ears belong to the folks that pay him quite a few dollars. Savage ain't the brightest bulb.

[Drango]

Savage says this all the time on his radio show...MSNBC didn't think he'd say on TV?

[BrooklynGOP]

Yep. I saw his show once and that was it for me.

[new cruelty]

I noticed Imus has started playing nice with MSNBC. He denied being pressured to do so, but his sudden praise is 180 degrees from what he was saying a few months ago.

[shadowman99]

It appears to me that Michael Savage is losing his mind. His politics are all over the place and his rants verge on psychotic.

He's become someone that when I hear him described as conservative I cringe. He underscores the stereotype that we're bigots. His manner of delivering his message undermines his credibility.

[BunnySlippers]

I can't believe they kept him this long. What a horrible man!

[Norse]

Yea, this man is not a conservative. He is a psychotic idiot.

[Pest]

I agree with many of Savage's ideas. However, his delivery is raw and isn't made for mass consumption. His style works much better on radio.

[kegler4]

A great man? Savage is a self-promoting idiot who gives conservatives a bad name. Too bad he still has a radio show.

[The Old Hoosier]

Not exactly full of Christian charity.

He's Jewish.

[Dimensio]

sounds like some people can't take a joke.

You're absolutely right. I met a woman who said that she supported gay rights, and I told her to buzz off and have her children get molested and she became very, very upset. She just couldn't take a joke, I guess.

(for the intelligence impaired, the above is a joke. I never really said any such thing to anyone).

[fishtank]

I like Savage.

Someone has to be the last angry man in America.

[oceanview]

give it a few months.

[Hugin]

The incident that resulted in his firing began innocently enough. Savage was taking viewer phone calls about airline horror stories, and a male caller began talking about smoking in the bathroom.

"Half an hour into the flight, I need to suggest that Don and Mike take your ..." the caller said, before he was cut off and his words became unintelligible.

So some twerp lied about what he was calling about, and in the middle of the story tried to slip in some obscene insult. I don't blame Savage for responding as he did. 0 Oh well, MSNBC sucks anyway. The only thing worth watching on the network is Scarborough Country.

[Coleus]

I'll miss the show.

[newgeezer]

Darn. I've heard so much about him, but never got to see his show.

Oh, well. Sounds like he and Mike Gallagher should get together and star in a "conservative" remake of "Dumb and Dumber."

(No; Gallagher's just a ranting blowhard. Liberals love him because he makes conservatism look stupid.)

[BureaucratusMaximus]

He is a psychotic idiot.

Laughing all the way to the bank.

[ExSES]

Savage says this all the time on his radio show...MSNBC didn't think he'd say on TV?

AGREED! Anyone who has listened to Savage's radio shows has heard far worse! He is totally "Un-PC" and proud of it! I think of him as the "Right's" "Off the Wall" answer to the "Left's" numerous "Shock Jocks"!

Quite frankly..., very few radio types are cut out for (or succeed on ) TV!

[Burkeman1]

I agree. Wishing death on a caller by a horrible disease is the reason he got fired. If he merely expressed his moral outrage at homosexual behaviour he would still have a show. The only pig in that exchange was Savage.

[jonalvy44]

We were watching the show and we both looked up and my wife said"what prompted that" as we weren't fully listening but were reading...We like Savage Nation, he calls it like it is. I felt this was a bit over the top, but that seems to be his nature.

Like Stephen Bing firing Penn for fear of hurting his film project, MSNBC has every rightt o fire Savage.

Loved his bashing of Hollywood, though.

[databoss]

I didn't know that Don & Mike were gay!

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[HarryDunne]

MichaelSavageTheSavageNationHaveYouReadMyBook ping

[L.N. Smithee]

"Half an hour into the flight, I need to suggest that Don and Mike take your ..." the caller said, before he was cut off and his words became unintelligible.

This reads like a possible set-up by syndicated shock jocks Don and Mike, who do an afternoon show that apes Stern's, except that it aims lower, if you can believe that.

Silly me. I thought that Mike was going to be more careful.

[L.N. Smithee]

This will only help him. He is now a pariah again.

That's ridiculous.

[stands2reason]

what happened to the first amendment?

You seem to be ignorant of the purpose of the 1st Amendement. It does not guarantee non-public positions for idiots.

[gcruse]

MSNBC is a loser network with garbage ratings.

Yeah, like he has a chance to go on anything bigger.

[Tai_Chung]

Does this mean that NBC would fire anyone that wishes for the death of Charlton Heston (NRA), President Bush (remember the pretzel jokes?), Henry Hyde (from the Clinton impeachement), Newt Gingrich, and Ronald Reagan?

I agree that Savage crossed the line in his comments, but let's not have a double-standard.

[Al Simmons]

He's an entertainer, slightly unhinged, by his own admission. Sometimes he appears to be severely depressed and then the world is ending. Usually fun to listen to. He fell victim to his own temper here - no doubt the "sodomite"'s purpose was to provoke him just exactly for this end. Can't wait to hear what he has to say about this matter later on today (*LOL*)

[areafiftyone]

What Savage said was just plain nasty and MSNBC did the right thing. Did anyone catch Fox and Friends this morning? On the question of the day someone called in and said to the girl (I am not sure what her name was) that was substituting for E.D. Hill "Would you @#$% Howard Stern? I almost died! At least Fox and Friends had the decency not to stoop to that person's level by answering that person back!

[amexmike]

The reason his show didn't succeed is because of the ridiculous time slot they had it on. Saturday 2:00 PM (Pacific). What moron scheduled that time slot? It was destined to fail at that time. Based on the story he was set up. It's sad that fringe groups can put so much pressure on today's media while inverse pressure is labeled hate speech. Mr. Savage has a particular style that is purposeful to get people to think about the message. It's a shame that he has been taken off the air.

[rintense]

A buh bye.

[DryFly]

Nice way to get out of a contract and a poorly rated tv show without having to suffer the embarrassment of cancellation.

[Dimensio]

what happened to the first amendment?

How does the First Amendment play into this? Is Michael Savage facing criminal charges specifically because of what he said? Is he facing any kind of legal consequences at all as a direct result of his words?