Savage rips gay, gets canned

New York Daily News ^ | 7/08/03 | RICHARD HUFF and CORKY SIEMASZKO

[kattracks]

MSNBC fired talk-show host Michael Savage yesterday for savaging a caller as a "Sodomite" and "a piece of garbage" who should die of AIDS.

The rabid right-winger, whose "Savage Nation" program has drawn frequent fire from gay and lesbian groups, leaped over the line during his Saturday show, network officials said.

When a gay caller joined the discussion about the travails of airplane travel, Savage interrupted and asked, "So are you one of those Sodomites?"

The caller said he was and Savage ripped into him. "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig!" he snarled.

Savage, his eyes hidden behind his trademark sunglasses, also told the caller to "go eat a sausage and choke on it."

But it was the cable network's executives who nearly choked when they heard Savage's diatribe. "Savage made an extremely inappropriate comment and the decision to cancel the program was not difficult," MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said.

The fact that Savage's show wasn't a hit made the decision easier for MSNBC, which had hoped his successful syndicated radio program would translate into big TV ratings.

"Frankly, it's about time," said Cathy Renna, spokeswoman for the gay rights group GLAAD. "Michael Savage's latest rant made the clearest possible case for why this kind of behavior has no place on any reputable news network."

There was no immediate comment from Savage, who did not respond to E-mail requests for an interview.

The cranky conservative is one of radio's hottest jocks and founder of the Paul Revere Society - based in liberal Mill Valley, Calif. - which advocates deporting illegal immigrants and eliminating entitlement programs.

Savage was hired in February, around the time MSNBC canceled liberal talk-show host Phil Donahue.

Originally published on July 8, 2003

[Caipirabob]

Wish I saw it. It's just that I remember MSNBC during the Clinton years and refuse to ever watch them again.

At least he didn't go out like Dr. Laura...

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[Ff--150]

bump--9/11 is a distant memory, so now the libs can return....

[Symix]

It is not known if the caller was gay.
What is known is that "East Coast Bob" (the caller's nickname) belongs to the group of cranksters (apparently there is some show hosted by "Don and Mike" that promotes this behaviour) who call various shows trying to upset the hosts. I remember one of these - the caller seemed highly intelligent and really was a pleasure to listened too - then suddenly he asked the guest how often he masturbated.

The call to Michael Savage was a similar one - the caller thanked Mike for taking his call and proceded with a story about his flying from New York. Then he mentioned Don and Mike - Savage screeners, if they were any good, should have cut the call at this moment - but they didn't.

Apparently there is no such thing on tv as a direct call.
Michael was listening to what the caller has to say in his earpiece before it is translated to all. The guy did enraged Michael and he responded in kind. The crew again did not react and cut the signal - they were eating pizza.

On their website they already hailed ECB as a hero and snicker about their "achievement".

[Non-Sequitur]

I watched the show once early on and it seemed like an infomercial for his book more than anything else. I don't think this will be any great loss.

[goldstategop]

For some reason conservatives don't do well on television. Michael Savage offended liberals once too much and got shown the door.

[Non-Sequitur]

If Michael Savage had been getting a 20 share of the TV audience then he could have called anyone anything he wanted. But we all know that being a jerk with low ratings will get you canned faster than just being a jerk.

[pt17]

I don't think this will be any great loss.

Neither do I.

[genefromjersey]

Good riddance !

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Perpetually pissed off people never do well on TV - because viewers see the rages.

Rush didn't do well on TV because he's just not photogenic. I remember seeing him on Letterman when he was in his heavy stage. He was heavy still, hesitant, and just couldn't perform well in that medium. The audience was laughing at him, and I was humiliated as he tried to bloviate there. Later, when he got his own program and could control the script, he was a little better, albeit not by much.

[Wallace T.]

About 40 years ago, Marshall McLuhan wrote several books about the difference in style between radio and TV, as radio was considered a "hot" medium while TV was a "cool" one. The failures of Rush Limbaugh and Laura Schelssinger and now Michael Savage on TV may be illustrative of McLuhan's observations. (The immediate cause of Savage's demise may have been "over the top" language directed at a caller, but one suspects that had Savage had very strong ratings, this gaffe would have been ignored.) This problem afflicts non-conservatives as well, as illustrated by Howard Stern.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Sounds interesting.

O'Reilly is right on the borderline of unacceptable, Hannity isn't - he'll always do well, because he is apparently a friendly guy (so is Colmes, for that matter). There has got to be some basic affability there, and an air of good humor about TV personalities.

[zx2dragon]

One, maybe he knew about the other show and was trying to play it up? If not then he deserved to go. Telling someone that they should contract a deadly disease and die isn't acceptable and shouldn't be tolerated.

[Texas_Dawg]

Good riddance!

No kidding. Michael Savage is just a bozo. The guy defends Slobodan Milosevic who was a socialist. Savage isn't as much a conservative as he is just a blowhard.

[genefromjersey]

Thanks for saying so !

A few of our Freepers seem to have confused ideas about gays-a group I have no great enthusiasm for , but am willing to be reasonably polite to - no matter how much some of their public antics annoy me.

They are, I think, pretty much " as God made them ", and I have to assume they have some sort of niche in the scheme of things.

[Texas_Dawg]

Not to mention that there are some gays who are solidly conservative on many things and really don't care about ever getting married, or, forcing their morals on private organizations like the Boy Scouts. To wish AIDS on anyone is just evil, but to wish AIDS on people (conservative gays) that support America and nearly every major facet of conservatism is just plain stupid as well.

[Imagine]

Homosexuality:

Homosexuality is deviant sexual behavior and a mental illness.

Homosexuals: 1) subject their body parts to uses nature did not intend, such activities often presenting immediate risk to the participants; 2) are prone to greater suicide, depression and other mental disorders and deficiencies than the heterosexual population at large; 3) are prone to far greater sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, than the (normal) heterosexual population; 4) molest young people (pedophilia) at a far greater rate than heterosexuals; 5) engage in degrading sexual promiscuity, oftentimes engaging in risky sex with many partners during the same event; 6) are engaged in aggressive and widespread efforts to indoctrinate our children by introducing the homosexual lifestyle using public schools as the primary indoctrination “vehicle” and likewise, through the movie/music/TV industry, with the dual goals of gaining school-age acceptance of homosexuality and encouraging sexual activity among children, especially same-sex experimentation; 7) view most everything through a mindset heavily biased in favor of the homosexual lifestyle and culture, which renders them mostly useless when asked to opine on matters that normal heterosexuals better resolve.

The mental deficiencies described herein applying to homosexuals shall not be confused with the deficiencies associated with the left wing democrat/socialist/marxist/ feminist/environmentalist minds, etc., which have their own distinct set of mental disorders.

This doesn't even touch on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.

[Texas_Dawg]

This doesn't even touch on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.

I would apply most of what you say to pre-marital heterosexual sex as well. Just as sinful by Christ's standards.

[PJ-Comix]

Savage rips gay, gets canned

I'm still chuckling over that headline. Think about it.