Blackballed
Palin, Huckabee, and O'Reilly are defending Juan Williams, whose divisive comments about Muslims got him canned. Howard Kurtz on whether NPR acted unfairly—and Fox's counteroffensive.
Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images,Brendan Hoffman
NPR News Analyst
Offense: Williams told Fox talk show host Bill O’Reilly, "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
Penalty: National Public Radio
fired Williams, saying the comment was "inconsistent with our editorial standards.
Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images
CNN Anchor
Offense:
Ranted about Jon Stewart and whined about Jews controlling the media.
Penalty: Sanchez was
fired and
mocked by Stewart.
Gustavo Caballero / Getty Images
Front-Row White House Correspondent
Offense: Remarked that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine," and that "they should go home"
Penalty: Shunned by allies and the White House,
issued apology, retired in disgrace
Charles Dharapak / AP Photo
Seinfeld’s Kramer
Incident: Used the n-word and referenced lynching when firing back at African-American hecklers at a comedy club in 2006
Punishment: A grueling
Late Show apology; banishment from pop culture until a
Curb Your Enthusiasm appearance three years later
Louis Lanzano / AP Photo
Hirsute Cable-TV Commando
Offense: Repeatedly used the n-word in a
recorded phone tirade
Penalty: Contrition on
Larry King Live; his show was briefly suspended by A&E
Ronen Zilberman / AP Photo
Bullying Fox News Opiner
Offense: Visited a Harlem restaurant and expressed surprise that no one was “screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea”
Penalty: None—accused critics of “
fabricating a racial controversy ”
Kathy Willens / AP Photo
Megalomaniacal Actor
Offense: In 2006, told a police officer who was arresting him for drunk driving, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?”
Penalty: Interrogation by Diane Sawyer; no starring roles until 2010’s Edge of Darkness
AP Photo
Shock Jock to the Media Elite
Offense: In April 2007, referred to members of the Rutgers’ women's basketball team as “nappy-headed hos”
Penalty: Banishment from the radio for eight months; relocated from MSNBC to Fox Business
Richard Drew / AP Photo
Ex-Virginia Senator
Offense: During his 2006 reelection campaign, referred to an Indian-American opposition researcher who was tailing him as “Macaca”
Penalty: Lost his Senate seat and nuked his presidential ambitions; now a
lobbyist
Steve Helber / AP Photo
Father of Modern Genetics, Nobel Laureate
Offense: In a 2007 interview said: "[I am] inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa [because] all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really”
Penalty:
Apologized and
resigned from long-time research post
Matt Dunham / AP Photo
Offense: At a 2002 soiree for segregationist Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday, said that had the Dixiecrat been elected "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years”
Penalty:
Apologized on BET,
resigned as Senate Majority Leader
Alex Brandon / AP Photo
Sex Symbol, Godard Muse
Offense: In letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, she
wrote that Muslim immigrants were "destroying our country"
Penalty: A 15,000 euro ($23,000) fine for
inciting racial hatred it was her fifth racial hatred-related fine and a
judge said "I am a little tired of prosecuting Mrs. Bardot"
Remy de la Mauviniere / AP Photo
Talking Head, Bookie
Offense: Insisted to reporter that African Americans' athletic agility was
due to selective breeding during slavery: "The slave owner would breed his big black with his big woman so that he could have a big black kid—that's where it all started"
Penalty: Sacked by CBS
Tom Reed / AP Photo
Disheveled London Mayor, Journalist
Offense: Used the words "piccaninnies" and "watermelon smiles" when referring to blacks; compared Tory politics to "Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing"
Penalty: Apologized repeatedly, including to the entire nation of Papua New Guinea; became London’s mayor
Matt Dunham / AP Photo
Royal Gaffe Machine
Offense:
Insults to Indians, Chinese, and the people of Papua New Guinea, which, like Boris Johnson, he
implied were cannibals
Penalty: None—job security unchanged
Fernando Llano / AP Photo
Loose-Lipped Pol
Offense: Called Obama the “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean”
Penalty: Became vice president
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
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