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CNN Suspends Roland Martin for His Controversial Tweets

Feb 8, 2012  •  Post A Comment

CNN has suspended contributor Roland Martin for some controversial tweets he made during the Super Bowl.

As TVWeek previously reported, "Martin’s tweet made fun of [soccer superstar David] Beckham for sporting only his underwear in [a Super Bowl] ad, noting, ‘Ain’t no real bruhs going to H&M to buy some damn David Beckham underwear!’…. He continued, ‘If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!’

CNN’s statement said, "Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being."

CNN did not say how long Martin would be off the air.

As our previous story noted, Martin said, "I do not advocate violence of any kind against anyone gay, or not." He has since apologized for his remarks.

Politico columnist Dylan Byers had this take on Martin’s suspension: "[I]n its decision to suspend political contributor Roland Martin today for controversial statements he made on Twitter, CNN seems to have suggested that controversial comments made recently by other contributors — namely Dana Loesch and Erick Erickson — do not warrant the same punishment.

"On her radio show, Loesch championed U.S. Marines for urinating on dead Taliban soldiers and said that she would ‘drop trou’and do it too.

"On his radio show, Erickson championed the tasing of an Occupy D.C. protester and said, ‘watching a hippie protester get tased just makes my day.’ "

Byers adds, "CNN may have felt extra pressure to suspend Martin because of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which strongly condemned Martin’s comments."

Byers also notes, "It should be noted that among the three contributors, Martin was the only one to apologize for his statements."

Writing today, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, GLAAD said, "Earlier this week, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, the nation’s largest black LGBT civil rights organization, also spoke out: ‘Even if he meant it in a jovial manner, Roland Martin’s words carry a real impact on the everyday lives of Black LGBT people, especially our youth. Given the number of rash murders, attacks and violent acts involving LGBT people of color, we cannot let statements such as this go unchecked. Silence is a form of acceptance and only perpetuates the problem.’ "

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Roland Martin

10 Comments

  1. Sleazy CNN & Headline Blood News “reporters” should all be banned from the airwaves. Sick people. Someone should piss on that slut for saying she’d join in peeing on some dead Arabs. Just the kind of talk that you would expect on Fox, not CNN. Until now. Both channels suck.

  2. Black groups should be standing up for Roland instead of trashing him. Why was he suspended when two whites weren’t. I think the answer is obvious.

  3. I’m a disabled combat MARINE, I too would have pissed on the A-Rabbs. 2nd, my wife and I BOTH thought the beckham ad was queer. (I’m not PC). And last, when did the homos get to steal my word “gay” ??!! They are homos, and believe it or not, I don’t care who, or what color you are just stop the GD whinning, and get on w/your sorry lives !! Man, I hate this crap, and give the black dude back his job.

  4. Jesus, you are one angry and seriously confused person.

  5. Angry yes, confused, I’m afraid not. I just HATE the direction this country has taken. Before you criticize, you may want to reconsider your handle.

  6. The agenda of these pressure groups such as GLAAD is to stifle the free speech of people who do not agree with them or who do not worship in every way at the altar of their narrow, assumed holy cause.
    It’s not enough to criticize someone’s comments they dislike or disagree with. They want a scalp, because they want to make an example of people who say things that make them “uncomfortable.” Oh, my little Precious!
    Who said these special interest groups have some “right of comfort,” free of criticism or ridicule. They don’t and they’re sadly mistaken if they think they’re going to earn that imaginary right by playing the bully.
    I’m not saying that these groups don’t have the right to express disagreement or criticism of someone or some group that criticizes or ridicules them in a way they believe is unfair. But they are crossing a line when they seek to permanently silence those voices by threatening their livelihood.
    More and more Americans are waking up to these tactics and they don’t like them one bit. There will be a backlash, and the things that make these groups unhappy is likely to increase and intensify.

  7. “The agenda of these pressure groups such as GLAAD is to stifle the free speech of people who do not agree with them or who do not worship in every way at the altar of their narrow, assumed holy cause.”
    You also can freely substitute any American special interest group in place of “GLADD” above, namely any organized religion, politcal “action league” etc. That’s what makes me sick about this country, the “moral authority” freedom-stiffling, thought-controlling POS’s that idiots actually obey

  8. Well said, my man !!

  9. PTSD.

  10. Good post. I’m facing some of these issues as well..

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