A morning radio host in New York has been fired after comparing the skin tones of prominent Black women to his preferred shade of toast in a segment on his show.
Rob Lederman, a host of The Morning Bull Show, was “swiftly terminated” from his role at 97 Rock in Buffalo, the second-largest city in the US state of New York, by Cumulus Media on Wednesday.
“We swiftly terminated him and suspended the remainder of the show’s on-air talent,” the company said, according to Buffalo News. “We apologise, and deeply regret the incident.”
His sacking came after a clip of him rating the desirability of famous Black women based on the complexion of their skin and comparing it to a numbered toaster setting on air went viral online.
“I may get into trouble for this,” said Mr Lederman before making the offensive remarks during a conversation with lead host Rich “Bull” Gaenzler and co-host Chris Klein.
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The clip made references to Serena Williams, Halle Berry, and Gayle King and quickly received backlash online after receiving over 300,000 views.
In response to the clip, several advertisers pulled their advertising from the company.
The host apologised on Thursday for the comments, saying he was horrified when he listened to himself and vowed to learn from it.
“I 100 per cent understand why people are justifiably angry,” Rob Lederman wrote in a statement on Twitter. “I made a mistake and it’s hard to look myself in the mirror, but I want to acknowledge it.”
He added: “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.”
Marcel Louis-Jacques, a Buffalo Bills reporter for ESPN NFL Nation, condemned the clip when sharing it online.
“There’s already an unfortunate and undeserved stigma attached to dark skin — so for Rob to take something undesirable like burnt toast and compare it to the skin color of any person is reprehensible and feeds into that stigma,” he said in the now-viral post.
Additionally, Mr Gaenzler was fired from his role as the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bandits’ arena host, Pegula Sports & Entertainment said.
“All organizations across the Pegula Sports & Entertainment umbrella strongly condemn racism in all forms,” they said. “We are deeply disturbed by the comments made this morning by a co-host on Rich Gaenzler’s radio show.”
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
