Dr. Laura's N-Word Rant: Radio Host Apologizes For Offensive Language (AUDIO)

[Pirate Smile]

Dr. Laura's N-Word Rant: Radio Host Apologizes For Offensive Language (AUDIO)

Dr. Laura Schlessinger has apologized after a shocking rant on her radio show this week during which she said the n-word 10 times over the course of five minutes.

In conversation Tuesday with a black female caller who was complaining about her white husband's racist friends and their use of the word, Schlessinger said:

Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO and listen to a black comic, and all you hear is n****, n*****, n*****. I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing.

LISTEN (via MediaMatters):



After a break, the caller said she was appalled by Schlessinger's use of the word.

"Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians," she said. "My dear, the point I am trying to make...we've got a black man as president and we've got more complaining about racism than ever. I think that's hilarious."

Schlessinger and the caller then got into an exchange about the use of the word:

CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word?
DR. LAURA: It depends how it's said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it's ok.
CALLER: But you're not black, they're not black, my husband is white.
DR. LAURA: Oh, I see, so a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can't do much about that.
CALLER: I can't believe someone like you is on the radio spewing out the n***** word, and I hope everybody heard it.
DR. LAURA: I didn't spew out the n***** word!
CALLER: You said "n*****, n*****, n*****" and I hope everybody heard it.
DR. LAURA: Yes they did, and I'll say it again: n*****, n*****, n***** is what you hear on HBO.

DR. LAURA: Why don't you let me finish a sentence? Don't take things out of context. Don't NAACP me, leave them in context.
"If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry outside of your race," Schlessinger said after hanging up with the caller.

She apologized the next day, opening her show with an apology.

"Yesterday, I did the wrong thing," she said. "I didn't intend to hurt people, but I did. And that makes it the wrong thing to have done. I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the "n" word all the way out - more than one time. And that was wrong. I'll say it again - that was wrong."

Schlessinger said she "was so upset could not finish the show."

"I pulled myself off the air at the end of the hour," she said. "I had to finish the hour, because 20 minutes of dead air doesn't work. I am very sorry. And it just won't happen again."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/12/dr-lauras-n-word-rant-rad_n_680680.html

[GodlessBiker]

1. She is, on so many levels, a complete asshole.

[sakabatou]

2. +1

[Bluzmann57]

3. She said. She meant it.

Of course she "apologized". A lot of people likely called and emailed her affiliate stations and complained. And her advertisers likely said "enough". But she meant it. Or else she wouldn't have said it.

[Hello_Kitty]

4. Her "philosophical point" was, in a word, bullshit.

Basically she was playing the "wah, Black people can use the n-word and I can't!" card. I can't think of any legitimate reason for a white person to use such a racial slur, can you?

[UTUSN]

5. She didn't sound "so upset she couldn't finish the hour." She said the caller was hypersensitive

If only she would take herself off the air PERMANENTLY.

[Ramulux]

6. The whole N-word thing

is so simple. Dumbass white people make it a problem by not understanding that its all about context. A rich wasp repeating it over and over in a childish manner on a radio show is not the right context and if she doesnt understand that she's a retard.

[jobycom]

7. Just a more honest manifestation of the arrogant elitist hatred that always spews from her show.

That word is one I won't even say in quotes. It's not an insult, it's an assault. Everyone knows the difference between an African American trying to demystify the word through use, and someone else using it as a dehumanizing threat--even if that threat is disguised as a frank albeit condescending and dishonest lecture on the confusion us poor white folk pretend to feel when we hear black people use it.

The most disgusting element of that exchange was the disingenuous paternalism in her crocodile-tear confusion. She understands what's wrong with the word, but she hates having to admit that a black person can tell her it's wrong. That was the real source of her rant--plain old racist arrogance.

Maybe a couple more stations will do the right thing and pull the plug on her filth. A man can hope, can't he?

[marmar]

8. She's astoundingly ignorant......

And her comment about a black president and people still whining about racism just illustrates how clueless that POS is.

[Quantess]

9. Basically she was telling her caller

that black people can't complain about white people who use the n-word, because some black people use the n-word themselves. That's the point she was trying to make. Basically she is saying that anybody can say n***** all they want, in any way they want, since some black people use the word. Notice how Dr. Laura didn't even acknowledge that the caller had a right to feel offended? Nope, blacks have no right to take offense at the n-word, according to Dr Laura.

She can apologize all she wants, but clearly, she isn't sorry at all.

[MadMaddie]

43. Such a simplistic way of thinking

The woman that was calling didn't use that type of language..

So in other words Laura is implying that ALL Blacks use the language so everyone else can use it.

Laura is a piece of rotten work.

[blogslut]

10. Dear Doctor Lady Person,

Lenny Bruce you ain't.

[quinnox]

11. Yes, according to Dr. Laura, blacks are hypersensitive

if they get offended by a white person using the n-word.

:wtf:

[Pirate Smile]

12. Rick Sanchez is doing a big story on this. Gawd, she is a horrible, horrible

racist witch. Horrible.

[tishaLA]

13. As much as I know Dr Laura sucks, that actually shocked me

I guess I'm still amazed when cretins like her finally let the guard down.

[Pirate Smile]

15. I know. It is still shocking.

[Nikki Stone1]

36. So you weren't shocked when she left her dead mother in a condo for 3 months?

?

[asdjrocky]

14. She has been wanting to do that for a very long time. nt

[Pirate Smile]

16. CNN went to a commercial but will be back to ask Grayson about it. Roland is on the phone.

They played more of the conversation. Gawd...

[enough]

17. Are there any other words that are limited in this way, where it's okay for one group

to use it, but not anybody else? I mean this as a serious question: it seems like an interesting issue to me.

[Gordan Shumway]

19. Dr?

[enough]

23. LOL - good one! But I'm still wondering about the question: are there some words that are tabu

in some people's mouths, but not in others' ?

[Gordan Shumway]

26. Probably, but I don't go around testing slurs

so I can't be sure.

[Fumesucker]

27. There's one that some gay people I know use to each other sometimes..

But that I think would be offensive to some if a non-gay person were to use it in a derogatory manner.

[struggle4progress]

35. Back in the Nixon era, when my friends and I all had really long hair, we regularly got called

"commie" and "faggot." Lots of other people had similar experiences, and it was sort of an in-joke with us to call each other stuff like "long-haired hippie commie queer" (as in the Dylan song). It was a psychological defense mechanism that prepared us a bit for the common unpleasant times when some jackass would drive by and shout something -- and frequently toss a glass bottle or something similar with the taunt

You should understand that when some African Americans use the word n*****, they are similarly immunizing themselves against taunts by racists. In my childhood, it was still frighteningly all-too-common for jerks to decide they were gonna go out and have a little "fun" by terrorizing (including maiming or killing) somebody with dark skin. The political consequences of that long nightmarish era will continue throughout the lifetimes of everyone who has heard such stories from relatives who experienced them first hand -- that is, for at least another fifty years

It makes no sense to consider the sociology here without remembering the actual history. I know at least one black man still alive who remembers a relative born in slavery; I know at least one black woman who remembers seeing the lynched body of a black man hanging beside the road. The word n***** was a term of abuse, best abandoned by everyone, but because of the ugly history the word still suggests something different coming from the mouth of a person with light skin than it does coming from the mouth of a person with dark skin

[enough]

40. Yes, I remember when I was in high school (1958-62), regularly being called "n*****-lover"

simply for speaking with any of few the black kids in the school. (Rural PA) The ferocity and viciousness with which this was said made it frightening, but the people who were saying it were so far down at the bottom of the barrel that the message was somehow the opposite of what they were hoping to convey.

I'm talking only of how it felt to me, not trying to interpret the effect of overt racist venom on the black kids themselves. But even experiencing it at that amount of remove was enough to make it so I would never be able to use the word, even if it somehow became socially acceptable. In asking the question, I'm not suggesting that I think the tabu should be broken, or that I don't understand where it came from. I'm just wondering if there are other analogous instances.

[NOLALady]

41. Sadly,

White kids in my area who associate with non whites are still being called N Lovers. The more things change....

[BolivarianHero]

18. What's with this?

Did the woman not know what Dr. Laura was like before calling in?

[Gordan Shumway]

21. So we should blame the caller for calling.

not Dr. Laura being a racist piece of shit? Interesting angle you have.

[BolivarianHero]

29. Dr. Laura is certainly to blame...

But calling someone like her to complain about racism seems like a fruitless exercise to me.

[MadMaddie]

34. Not putting her on the hot seat

but I suspect she is a supporter and follower of Laura and the right wing. I think the caller thought she was one of them....she has learned the hard way that she is not one of them and will never be accepted as one of them.

Laura's answer should have been that the couple needs to sit down and set parameters of what is and is not acceptable. Laura showed her racist ignorance. no surprise.

[genna]

20. Not all black people are comfortable with N word regardless of who says it

I've heard more than one argument start or flare out of control because of the use of the N word amongst black people.

Why would Dr. Laura not apologize for being a miscegnationist decrier? How about deflating an unique issue which would arise in a mixed marriage or a mixed household? What is this NAACP nonsense?

So she think she should rant for 10 N word blurbs and be excused?

[Liberalynn]

28. Exactly

There are women who use slurs about themselves and other women too. It doesn't mean I'd be comfortable with someone calling me those names. Would "Dr." Laura be comfortable being called those kind of slurs just because other women use them?

If she was really sorry she'd resign and keep her hate filled talk to herself.

[jwirr]

22. I am sick of the apologies. They do not mean it anyhow and their

original statement is a clear indication of their personality. Apology not accepted.

[quinnox]

24. Good point

It appears these closet racists believe they can say anything and then get away with it if they give a heartfelt "genuine" apology. An apology should not be good enough in this case.

[Submariner]

25. Well that was mighty White of her

:o

[progressoid]

30. Mrs. Imus? Is that you?

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CLANG]

32. I can't stand the suspense !!!

:popcorn: :beer: :popcorn: :toast: :popcorn: :smoke:

[ruggerson]

33. What happened was that the mask got torn away briefly

I assure you, she's one fucked up bigot off the air.

[Lindsey]

37. Many, many Africian Americans are outraged when the N word

is used. Dr. Laura is such a clueless POS there are simply no words. I'm just now hearing about it here on DU. The upside is that this could be the end for her. I mean really, this is beyond the pail.

[pipoman]

38. My take on the issue is certainly based on my life's experiences

ranging from growing up in a county with no ethnic diversity of any kind...at all..to spending years deescalating seriously angry people of every ethnic group,who were saying horrible things to and about me, ethnically and otherwise..I simply don't have the desire to use ethnic slurs of any kind. They really don't make me particularly angry when directed at me. But I can live my life by turning off the HBO if I don't want to hear it AND not use the fact that they are used by others as an excuse for my own bad behavior. The argument being made here is the exact same argument that a teenager would use as an excuse for any bad behavior, that being, "__________ said/did/smoked/drank it first!!1!". Why would anyone who doesn't use a slur argue the righteousness of the use of a slur?

[LatteLibertine]

39. I don't listen to her

and from what I did hear of her on the news I got the impression she was a tad bitchy. Yes, that includes the apology. I feel that only occurred because of the strong reaction to what she did. It did not "sound" genuine to me.

As others have said, I'm sick of people in the public eye doing stupid shit and then saying my bad. Honestly, I often think it's purely for publicity. Rush and BecKKK get loads of attention for slamming and insulting minorities all the time.

[MadMaddie]

42. She is sorry it was caught on the airwaves

The woman called her about a specific issue which was about her husbands friends disrepecting her with racist talk.

Laura is a fraud of a human being.

She has no idea of how destructive it was to say to that woman over and over and over and over.....

She was gleeful saying it over and over....