St. Louis radio host fired after Condoleezza Rice racial slur


UPI News Service, 03/23/2006

A St. Louis radio host has been fired for using a racial slur in reference to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

KTRS-AM morning show host Dave Lenihan made the remark Wednesday during a discussion about Rice's qualifications to take over as commissioner of the National Football League, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"She's been chancellor at Stanford. I mean she's just got the patent resume of somebody that's got some serious skill," Lenihan said on air. "She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon ..."

"'A big coon?' Oh my god," he said. "I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. OK? I didn't mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue

Station President Tim Dorsey offered an on-air apology 20 minutes later and said he fired Lenihan.

"I don't know what is in Mr. Lenihan's mind. I know what I heard," Dorsey said. "I know it was reprehensible."


Do you think that Tim would have let Fritzy back on the air?

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Homer: "Asleep at the switch"? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!
Bart: I believe you, Dad.

Why in the world would anyone be fired for mixing up the word. I have heard Mike Adamle mix up a basketball phrase by saying "slam Caller Bob" without any action being taken.

Amazing that a guy can be fired for using the word Coon

but a guy can have "Hug a Black Man day" and get $1.5 million dollars a year

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"Woof Woof"

From what I have read he meant to say coup. If you read the context, that word does fit better. I suppose we need some history on the guy before we lump him in with North. Honest mistakes are made, really.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

I was gonna say the exact same thing. Nas, not every single thing is a racist comment. People do honestly have freudian slips. There have been blooper commercials where the ad is supposed to be about bread and a woman with large breasts is cutting the bread. The voice guy says something to the effect of "the wonders of breasts (supposed to be bread)." I know its not the exactly the same and if this guy has been a scumbag for quite some time firing is fine. However if this was the first time and he immediately caught what he said and apologized, cant you just move on?

He has been quoted as trying to say a big coup, as in, it would be a big coup for the NFL to have the former Secretary of State as it's representative.

I'm all for allowing Jesse to make a fool of himself at every opportunity.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

I think the firing was a bit harsh. From what I've read, it was an honest slip of the tongue. He caught himself and immediately apologized. The word "coon" didn't even fit in the context of the sentence. Wouldn't it be nice to trade Bitch Rosen for "Quick Trigger" Dorsey. North wouldn't last a week. He'd probably be gone already, since he's offensive daily. Unfortunately, in order for the station to be flooded with complaints, the show in question would have to have listeners. In an ironic way, the secret of North's longevity is his lack of listenership. Even Jesse "where's the camera" Jackson doesn't deem him worthy of his time or effort.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

When I first read it, the word I thought he meant was boon, but coup makes sense too. The problem is he didn't explain what word he MEANT to say. He needed to apologize (which he did) PLUS correct himself and say what word he meant to say. Otherwise people jump to conclusions, which they did. He should have corrected himself immediately. He apparently didn't do that. That's simply stupid. Another dumbass bites the dust.