MSNBC Fires Host Savage for Wishing AIDS on Caller

Yahoo! News ^ | July 7, 2003 | Ben Berkowitz

[El Conservador]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cable news channel MSNBC on Monday fired Michael Savage after the controversial talk show host wished AIDS (news - web sites) on a caller whom he dismissed as "one of the sodomites."

Savage had been under fire from gay rights groups since February when the network announced it had hired the conservative commentator to host a TV version of his popular talk radio show.

Saturday's episode of "The Savage Nation," his 15th since the program's debut in March, featured Savage discussing air travel with callers.

One caller began discussing his experiences, and after an unintelligible part of the call, Savage asked him "So are you one of those sodomists?"

When the caller said, "Yes I am," Savage, reclining in a chair with his arms folded and wearing dark sunglasses, responded, "Oh, you're one of the sodomites! You should only get AIDS and die, you pig!" in a clip of the show hosted on the Web site of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

An MSNBC representative was not immediately available to comment, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed that the show had been canceled.

GLAAD, which from the start campaigned against MSNBC's hiring of Savage, cheered the cancellation.

"Michael Savage's latest rant made the clearest possible case for why this kind of behavior has no place on any reputable news network," GLAAD spokeswoman Cathy Renna said in a statement.

In addition to his radio and TV show, Savage founded the Paul Revere Society, which advocates closing the U.S. borders, eliminating bilingual education and ending affirmative action programs.

A message left at a number listed for the Paul Revere Society in the northern California city of Mill Valley was not immediately returned.

Savage, who according to his biography on a network Web site holds a doctorate in epidemiology and nutrition science, hosted his unabashedly conservative show from the well-known liberal bastion of San Francisco.

A network source said the show had averaged 347,000 viewers through its first 14 airings, not including three weekends when the show was preempted by news coverage. It had aired Saturdays at 5 p.m. ET.

Savage was hired around the time the network canceled liberal talk-show host Phil Donahue, who in turn reportedly accused MSNBC of trying to "outfox Fox," a reference to Fox News Channel, often characterized as being conservative.

MSNBC is a partnership of the NBC unit of General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp.

[Fred Mertz]

What did he say that was untrue?

[Cultural Jihad]

We discussed this on an earlier thread and the prevailing consensus is ...

It is not fair, though, to include in your 'consensus' those who were banned.

[annyokie]

I can't take Savage. But he should have got a strong warning not a pink slip, IMHO.

[Hugin]

You would never know from this article that they caller was a crank from another talk show who apparently lied about what he was calling about and suggested that something obscene should be done to Savage. You can disagree with how Mike handled it, but it really is a critical piece of info that they deliberately left out.

[new cruelty]

I think Baldwin was referring to Henry Hyde.

"We should go to Washington and stone Henry Hyde to death,"Baldwin was quoted as saying. "And then we should go to his house and kill his family."

Either way, Hyde or Newt, I think little alec did himself a disservice. The last 'great' thing he did, for the children, no doubt, was Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

[El Conservador]

...he shouldn't be condemned by those trying to pander to the gaystapo

One thing is not giving in to the gay agenda.

Another one is to wish death to someone else because of a petty disagreement.

[Hugin]

Another one is to wish death to someone else because of a petty disagreement.

It wasn't a petty disagreement. It was a crank caller who apparently made an obscene threat/suggestion.

[new cruelty]

What was the threat/suggestion?

[Jorge]

What did he say that was untrue?

Since when is saying you hope a person gets a terminal disease a question of whether it is true or untrue?

[Jesse]

Didn't say what he said is untrue. I said he is a blowhard.

Savage has a big mouth, and panders to the lowest common denominator. He's a jackass with a microphone. He can say what he likes, and I will defend to the death his right to be an ass.

If I owned MSNBC I wouldn't have offered him the contract.

Other "conservative" blowhards...Michael Gallagher comes to mind.

[Jorge]

It pains me to see our side play right into their tricks. I would NEVER wish AIDS on anyone. One wonders if Savage has seen anyone with full blown AIDS suffer. Even if that person did it to themselves, needles, homosexuality,etc. how can someone say that?

No one in their right mind would say what Savage said.

Remember the liberal left hoping Ronald Reagan would get AIDS and even making pictures of him with Kaposi's Sarcoma all over his face?

It's pathetic that Savage and his hatemongering defenders would stoop to this level.

[RonDog]

See also:

MSNBC Fires Host Savage for Wishing AIDS on Caller
			Posted by El Conservador On 07/07/2003 7:47 PM PDT with 28 comments Yahoo! News ^ | July 7, 2003 | Ben Berkowitz
MSNBC Fires Savage on Anti-Gay Remarks
			Posted by Pro-Bush On 07/07/2003 1:16 PM PDT with 12 comments AP ^ | 7/7/03 | DAVID BAUDER
MSNBC fires Savage after anti-gay remarks
			Posted by sakic On 07/07/2003 1:11 PM PDT with 743 comments Associated Press ^ | Jul. 7, 2003 01:00 PM

[El Conservador]

Here's the transcription (make your own judgement):

CALLER: "Hey Michael Savage, a pleasure to speak with you today. I was flying out of LaGuardia, and there was two undercover security guards. Somebody was smoking in the bathroom"

SAVAGE: "Someone was smoking in the bathroom."

CALLER: "Unbelievable."

SAVAGE: "What happened?"

CALLER: "Half-hour into the flight, I need to suggest that Don and Mike take your [silence] cause your teeth are [unintelligible]

SAVAGE: "Alright, so you're one of those sodomists? Are you a sodomite? "

CALLER: "Yes, I am."

SAVAGE: "Oh, you're one of the sodomites! You should only get AIDS and die, you pig! How's that? [off-screen crew can be heard shouting "Whoa!"] Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage? You got nothing to do today? Go eat a sausage and choke on it. Get trichinosis. OK, do we have another nice caller here who's busy because he didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse and is angry at me today? Huh? Get me another one, put another sodomite on! No more calls? I don't care. Let's go to the next scene. I don't care about these bums, they mean nothing to me. They're all sausages."

[Hugin]

From another article posted earlier...

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.

Don't know exactly, but I imagine it was something pretty raunchy to get that reaction.

[Fred Mertz]

I've smoked a cigarette in an airport bathroom in the past. I was hoping the swat team didn't converge.

[Symix]

I watched the show and listened to Michael's explanation today on the radio. He said the call was a setup where a caller was screaming obscenities in his earpiece.

According to Michael he gave a signal to cut the sound - but only the caller's voice was muffed and all we heard was the enraged Savage responding in kind.

From the very first shows it was obvious that the TV crew he got was either unprofessional or anti-Savage. Time after time the calls were missed, the crank calls passed through, one word - sloppy.

As per Savage the crew was having a good time eating pizza. etc., and did not respond to the situation. Michael responded to the verbal assault as his enemies knew he would. On the radio Michael has control over calls and can cut them in a moment. Here his (or perhaps not) crew did not.

To me his eating on camera was a much greater offense than a response to the crank caller. It was funny and it fealt like he was breaking a tabu.

Michael Savage joined the club with his predescessor on MSNBC Alan Keyes as the second brilliant uncompromising conservative yanked from tv.

MSNBC stands to loose all the new conservative audience they obtain with Savage. When they said that Savage had only marginally larger show they were lying as the audience he brought was a different, very effluent one.

I for one sorry for MSNBC. They do have guts to bring conservative voices (Savage, Keyes, Scarrborrough) to get ratings but they crumble under pressure from the left and indifference from the right.

[new cruelty]

So savage lost his temper (and his show) over a raunchy prank call?

[Hugin]

What I've heard is that there are a couple of Howard Stern wannbees called Mike and Don. Like Stern's fans, their fans think it's real clever to call other show on false pretenses and make lewd suggestions to the host while mentioning the show.

[j.havenfarm]

I'm sorry. Would that be Michael "I'm a big dumb jerk" Gallagher. Why, I'll never forget, back when there was nothing else to listen to in his time slot, when he told a boy who had a female friend who was overweight that the boy should call her names to try to motivate weight loss. Seems, when the girl called in a few days later, she hadn't appreciated the advice. One of many similar Gallagher moments.