A Buffalo, New York, radio DJ was axed after he compared the skin tone of Black women to varying levels of burnt toast.
Rob Lederman no longer will appear on 97 Rock's "Morning Bull Show," and his co-hosts, Rich "Bull" Gaenzler and Chris Klein, have been suspended after a Wednesday conversation in which they spoke about using a toaster's settings to rate "the attractiveness" of women based on their skin tone.
"I would never go with a Serena Williams level, but I'm very comfortable at a Halle Berry level," Lederman said when asked by one of his co-hosts how toasted he typically liked his bread, according to Insider.
"I need a little bit of mulatto still coming through," he added.
Klein then asked whether Gayle King was "in his realm," to which he replied, "Gayle King is not even on my toaster level."
The station removed audio of the show from its website, but not before recordings of the broadcast were shared on social media. Gaenzler was fired as arena host by Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute has since pulled its advertising from the station.
"Immediately upon learning about this exchange, Roswell Park, the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, and the Ride for Roswell pulled all ads and marketing from this station," the organization said in a statement to Spectrum News. "The comments this morning conflict with our values and culture. We embrace actions that respect the dignity and equity of all people, and forcefully reject any and all forms of racism."
Cumulus Media, the owner of the station, promptly released a statement apologizing for Lederman.
"Cumulus Media operates from a clearly-defined set of programming principles, and there is no question that Rob Lederman's comments made on The Morning Bull Show are in direct violation of those principles. We swiftly terminated him and suspended the remainder of the show's on-air talent," the statement read. "We apologize and deeply regret the incident."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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