CNN fires anchor Rick Sanchez
CNN today fired its afternoon news anchor Rick Sanchez a day after he called TV host and comedian Jon Stewart a 'bigot' on a radio show and suggested that networks like CNN were run by people 'a lot like Stewart,' who is a Jew.
CNN issued a statement saying "Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well".
Sanchez, who had joined CNN in 2004, appeared on the XM Sirius radio programme 'Stand-Up with Pete Dominick' on Thursday.
During the interview with Dominick, Sanchez, a Cuban-American, called Stewart "a bigot" and said he was bigoted against "everybody else who's not like him".
Sanchez later took the word 'bigot' back, calling the comedian "prejudicial" instead.
When Dominick asked prejudicial "against who?", Sanchez replied, "Against anybody who doesn't agree to his point of view, which is very much a white liberal establishment point of view".
"He (Stewart) is upset that someone of my ilk is almost at his level," Sanchez said.
Stewart "can't relate to what I grew up with," Sanchez said adding that his family had been poor and he had seen prejudice directed at his father.
One of the co-hosts of the radio show said Stewart was a Jew, saying to Sanchez that Stewart was a minority "as much as you are". Sanchez answered, "Yeah. Yeah. Very powerless people.
I can't see someone not getting a job these days because they're Jewish," he said.
"I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah," Sanchez responded.
Stewart had frequently poked fun at Sanchez on Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show,' most recently for saying on the air that his show had received a tweet from House Republican leader John Boehner.
Stewart called it a case of "send a twit a tweet".
Sanchez hosted the two-hour 'Rick's List' on CNN's afternoon lineup.
The spot will be filled by 'CNN Newsroom' for the "foreseeable future," the network said.
Sanchez had won an Emmy Award in 1983 and had worked at MSNBC and CNBC.
