Condi Rice: "She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon."

PittsburghAfterDark

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ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis radio station quickly fired a talk show host for uttering a racial epithet as he talked about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on his morning show Wednesday.

Dave Lenihan apologized on the air immediately after making what he said was a slip of the tongue. KTRS president and general manager Tim Dorsey agreed the remark was accidental but said it was nonetheless "unacceptable, reprehensible and unforgivable."

Lenihan had been heaping praise on Rice, who has frequently said she aspires to run the NFL one day but has more recently ruled out seeking to replace retiring Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

"She's been chancellor of Stanford," Lenihan said on the air. "She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that."

He said he had meant to say "coup" instead of the racial slur.

KTRS listeners soon began calling the station to complain. Twenty minutes after the utterance, Dorsey went on the air to apologize to Rice and KTRS listeners.

"There can be no excuse for what was said," Dorsey said. "Dave Lenihan has been let go. ... There is enough hate. We certainly are not going to fan those flames.
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I'd accept his apology. I don't think the guy should be fired over this considering how quickly he caught himself and his on air apology. Funny though that this was, no doubt, a Freudian slip.
 
Well the idea of a "freudian slip" actually has evidence backing it up. Someone who does have a negative opinion of black people is more likely to accidentally to make a mistake such as the one mentioned, but that isn't to say it couldn't be a complete accident.

Either way, the station was probably concerned with losing listeners and figured that getting rid of him would result in less of a loss than keeping him. There's no real risk of a backlash this way.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Well it's kind of hard to deny something said on the air live to thousands and recorded on digital air checks.[/quote]

and yet it works.

Had he denied saying it, waited a few days then made a press release stating that he actually said con, like conservitive he'd still have a job right now.
 
I think this guy was gone when he said it. He simply wouldn't have as good of a defense if he didn't say it. The people would still have called and complained and he would have been axed.
 
Sounds accidental... Probably doesn't deserve to be fired.

Where was his producer on that one? You can have at least 5 seconds of dead air before and after you hit the button.
 
the fact that he apologised in that way so quickly reminds me of a child saying shit infront of there mom.

He felt he did wrong he knew he did wrong so I dont see how its wrong for him to be let go..thats there job its not like they could ignore it then let the station get death threats all the time and ratings go down.
 
For that alone I don't think he should be fired. He may have a history of similar 'slips', though, and this COULD just be the one that finally got him fired. I have no idea, though, but it just seems strange that they'd fire him for one slip-up that he immediately apologized for.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Sounds accidental... Probably doesn't deserve to be fired.

Where was his producer on that one? You can have at least 5 seconds of dead air before and after you hit the button.[/QUOTE]

Good point. This was a 7 second delay button incident where someone screwed up.

Then again, if you're a producer or board op for a talk show are you really hovering over the delay button when you're not taking calls? Likely not.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Good point. This was a 7 second delay button incident where someone screwed up.

Then again, if you're a producer or board op for a talk show are you really hovering over the delay button when you're not taking calls? Likely not.[/QUOTE]
You've still got a few seconds to go press it even if you're not at the button. You've got the length of whatever the delay is, if you pressed it now it would cut off at what you said 7 seconds ago.

If he had not even mentioned it I'm sure nothing would have even been said. He probably did just misspeak, and AM radio is bad enough that he could just deny it. Thats probably why the producer didn't do anything, he couldn't tell if it was coon or coup until he said something about it.
 
In this day and age, there is bad language, and there is racist language.

For instance, this year we had a formal complaint filed against our dept because of a project done in a low-level deviance course. Someone was in a very public place, and their project was to use bad language and monitor how people acted/reacted. Well, the student happened to use the word "fag" around a *very* inebriated and *very* homosexual male, who ended up filing a complaint *after* tearing the student a new one and *after* the student pointed out that since they were "doing their homework," this was in no way indicative of how they feel or are towards gays.

So, the story goes, the professor was telling me about how students react to bad language when it comes out of the professor's mouth (not just in her class, but presumably others). Students will giggle when "shit" or "fuck" is said by a prof, and they think it's funny and cute to see someone who is *supposed* to be a lot of things (representative of an academe, anyway) cursing like a sailor.

Well, the kicker is when she drops the "n"-bomb. Without fail, everyone gasps and is offended. It led me to realize there is a hierarchy of bad language - it's "kinda not so good" to say words like shit and fuck, but nobody will seriously enforce those social standards. OTOH, you're complicit of a racial crime by merely *being in the same room* as someone who utters a racial epithet. Now, I think because of the legacy of certain races in American history, racial epithets towards blacks are far more inappropriate than other racial epithets. Do I think that's proper? Nah, but that's what I feel the American collective conscience says is the case. Racism towards those of middle-eastern descent (either in verbage used towards them or the inability to discern between the various cultural groups that are vastly different) is more or less permissible in this day and age; I think that the next great American racism will be directed towards Asian Indians (much worse than the economic disdain for the Japanese during the 1980's, IMO, but just not yet). Asians are somewhat taboo, but you'll find the occasional person who uses a phrase like "Jap" and seems to have no problem with it (even if they're discussing the Chinese ;)). Blacks, though, are above and beyond in a category of language that should be remembered for historical legacy, but never, ever, *ever* said or used again.

I think that's precisely why this guy got the shit he did. I think, contextually, the phrase is totally weird and indicative of him misspeaking; thus, "coup" makes sense grammatically and contextually. But, it's society's rules for grammar and speech, not mine.

(I also think this is why racism against blacks is so subtle and difficult to identify, both in language and action, in this day and age, but that's for another thread).
 
I just wish Rush Limbaugh was fired when he mispronounced Mayor Nagin as "Mayor Nayger".

Freudian slip or intentional smear? You be the judge. Either way, he's a racist asshole.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Sounds accidental... Probably doesn't deserve to be fired.

Where was his producer on that one? You can have at least 5 seconds of dead air before and after you hit the button.[/QUOTE]

Totally agree. From the context it is obvious he meant to say "coup."
 
[quote name='mykevermin'] Asians are somewhat taboo, but you'll find the occasional person who uses a phrase like "Jap" and seems to have no problem with it (even if they're discussing the Chinese ;)). [/quote]

A lot of people don't know "jap" is offensive, and the older people are the less likely they are to realize it. My grandfather called black people "colored", japanese people "jap", and native americans "injuns" until the day he died, but he never meant anything by it and wouldn't have understood if you called him racist. Those were simply the words he knew. Oddly many of his favorite shows starred black people (jefferson, family matters etc.), and he seems to have just as many black decorations as white ones. He had one picture of jesus in his house and jesus was black, being held by a black mary. And his manger he put out every christmas was 50% black. He (and my grandmother) had black friends as far back as the 1930's.

My point is essentially you often need to look beyond the language to see if they're really racist.

I do genuinely feel bad for the guy because I think it was a mistake. I think that, if he did hold any racism, it doesn't appear to be something he allowed into his life. You can't blame people for things that are beyond their control. I may be wrong, but I have no real reason to think otherwise here. At the same time, I probably would have done the same thing if I were the radio station, assuming he wasn't pulling in massive ratings. It's an unfortunate situation, but seemingly necessary.
 
[quote name='E-Z-B']I just wish Rush Limbaugh was fired when he mispronounced Mayor Nagin as "Mayor Nayger".

Freudian slip or intentional smear? You be the judge. Either way, he's a racist asshole.[/QUOTE]

How would you know if he's a racist? You don't listen to him, you just repeat all the bad things your liberal leaders tell you about him.
 
[quote name='bmulligan']How would you know if he's a racist? You don't listen to him, you just repeat all the bad things your liberal leaders tell you about him.[/quote]


Unfortunately, it doesn't matter if your idol is racist, because the only things he is good at in any case are causing petty controversy and cleaning out his trough before suppertime.
 
[quote name='bmulligan']How would you know if he's a racist? You don't listen to him, you just repeat all the bad things your liberal leaders tell you about him.[/QUOTE]


My grandfather listens to him so I often end up doing so as well.

He has a history of making racist comments.

Plus he is a huge pill popping tool.

Let me guess Bmullet, you are a fan?

You seem pathetic enough.
 
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