Halle Berry has condemned a radio host who was fired after describing his preferred toaster setting by comparing the skin tones of famous Black women.
Rob Lederman brought up the Hollywood actor during an episode of The Morning Bull Show podcast, in which he led a racist exchange involving mentions of Berry, Serena Williams and Gayle King.
During the conversation, Lederman acknowledged he “may get into trouble for this” before saying he would “never go to a Serena Williams level”, referring to her dark skin tone.
“But I'm very comfortable at a Halle Berry level. I need a little bit of mulatto still coming through,” he then said.
A co-host then asked if Gayle King was in Lederman's “realm”, as they compared skin tones to different toaster settings.
“No, Gayle King is not even on my toaster level,” Lederman responded.
“Disgusting,” Berry wrote on Twitter on Friday (26 March) in response to the exchange. “It’s ridiculous this type of nonsense is still being broadcasted across airwaves.”
She continued: “ALL Black women are beautiful and worthy, Rob Lederman. [Get the f*** out of here].”
A representative for The Morning Bull Show’s parent company, Cumulus Media, told People magazine that Lederman had been fired as a result of his comments.
“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,” the statement read.
“We swiftly terminated him and suspended the remainder of the show's on-air talent. We apologise, and deeply regret the incident.”
Lederman's two co-hosts, Rich “Bull” Gaenzler and Chris Klein, were suspended.
Read more:
- Kim Kardashian talks about ‘frustrating’ marriage to Kanye West in latest KUWTK episode
- Matthew Wright accuses This Morning guest of sharing ‘neo-Nazi ideas’
- Seth Rogen clarifies rumour that Emma Watson ‘stormed off’ the set of This Is the End
- The Big Bang Theory star shares blooper reel to celebrate Jim Parsons’ birthday
Lederman issued a public apology earlier in the week, saying he wanted to “sincerely apologise for hurting people” with his “foolish and ignorant comments”.
“After listening to what I said, and how it must have sounded to others, I was horrified,” he said.
“Please know my comments were ignorant, but not meant to be hurtful, but I know I, as well as many others, need to learn from this,” he added.
