BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Savage cynicism. MSNBC is
getting praise in some circles today for firing talk-show host
Michael Savage after a homophobic outburst on Saturday. But why? He
was given a Saturday-afternoon gig this spring because his syndicated
radio show draws millions of listeners, featuring exactly the kind of
homophobia that lost him his MSNBC show.
The question isn't whether MSNBC
executives actually believed Savage could contain himself when the TV
cameras were rolling. It's quite a bit more basic than that. Did they
really think they could avoid the sting of homophobia by hiring a
homophobic host and then telling him not to act like a homophobe when
the TV cameras were rolling?
Even if Savage had managed to
behave himself on Saturday, he was still playing the hatemonger every
Monday through Friday. And, until this week, he had the imprimatur of
NBC News, which I guess used to mean something.
Washington Post television
columnist Lisa
de Moraes's acid lead this
morning gets right to it:
MSNBC was shocked --
shocked, I tell you -- to learn that its well-known homophobe host
Michael Savage is actually -- gasp! -- homophobic, and the network
has sacked him, effective immediately.
By the way, here is the worst of
Saturday's outbursts, as reported by de Moraes:
Savage: "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?
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 have got
nothing to do today -- go eat a sausage and choke on it. Get
trichinosis."
Savage, on
his website, claims that
he didn't know he was on the air. You can't make this stuff
up. He writes:
[T]his was an
interchange between me personally and a mean spirited vicious
setup caller which I thought was taking place off the air. It was
not meant to reflect my views of the terrible tragedy and
suffering associated with AIDS. I especially appeal to my many
listeners in the gay community to accept my apologies for any
inadvertent insults which may have occurred.
Now, even if Savage is telling the
truth, which I suppose is a possibility, he still wants you to
believe that he's not homophobic because he only makes grotesque
jokes about AIDS and oral sex in private. Oh, okay.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation takes the high road today, issuing
a statement saying that it
"applauded" MSNBC's decision. That may make good tactical sense. Why
not be gracious when your enemy finally does the right
thing?
But the real story is told in
GLAAD's overview of Savage's history of gay-bashing, "MSNBC
& the Anti-Gay Savage."
MSNBC.com carries only
an
Associated Press story
about the firing.
The website Michael
Savage Sucks appears to be
on vacation today, which is too bad. But it will certainly be worth
checking out when it's updated.
MSNBC deserves no kudos for finally
realizing that Savage was harming the reputation of the News Channel
That Nobody Watches. The operation's behavior has been so
unrelievedly cynical that you can only wonder why Savage was really
canned.
Was the MSNBC brass really "shocked
-- shocked"?
Or, given that Savage's ratings
sucked, did they just decide that now was as good a time as any to
pull the plug?
posted at 8:58 AM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.