September 7, 2010: Talk Show Host Who Used Racial Slurs Claims Persecution by Liberal, Black Critics

Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who recently promised to leave the airwaves after repeatedly using the racial slur “n_igger” in conversation with an African-American woman (see August 10-18, 2010), claims that she is being persecuted by critics who refuse to accept her apology for her use of such slurs. On her show, she says she has been “sitting shiva” (a reference to Jewish funeral rites) for a month while “the hounds of fury misinterpret [and] misrepresent her apology as well as [her] decision” to leave the airwaves at the end of 2010. She cites black activist Reverend Al Sharpton, radio host Howard Stern, black comic Wanda Sykes, the liberal media watchdog organization Media Matters (see August 13, 2010), the NAACP, the National Urban League, and others for “pelting me with insults[,] calling me a racist,” and celebrating her imminent departure. She denies that she is leaving radio so she can make racial slurs with impunity, as she says her critics have implied she is doing. [Media Matters, 9/7/2010]