Rick Sanchez: Jon Stewart Is A Bigot And CNN Is Run By Jews

Once again, CNN's Rick Sanchez discovers that opening his mouth probably wasn't a good idea.

CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez seems to have gotten himself in some hot water with comments he made on an XM Radio broadcast yesterday:

CNN’s Rick Sanchez is not happy with being made fun of constantly on The Daily Show and Colbert Report. It is from this jumping off point that he absolutely unleashed on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and at times his own network, on Pete Dominick’s satellite radio show yesterday.

The big takeaway – Sanchez calls Stewart “a bigot,” then walks it back a bit, and he implies CNN is run by Jews.

Here’s Sanchez on Stewart:

Dominick: How is he a bigot?

Sanchez: I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I’m so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.

Dominick: What group is he bigoted towards?

Sanchez: Everybody else who’s not like him. Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with?

Sanchez is no doubt upset with the fact that Stewart has been rather merciless in pointing out the many verbal gaffes, miscues, and downright idiotic statements that Sanchez has made on his show. Then again, Sanchez does provide a lot of material, such as this spring when he expressed surprise at the fact that there would be a volcano in Iceland:

But it’s Sanchez’s comments about his employer that are raising eyebrows this morning:

Later in the interview, Dominick brings up the fact that Stewart is Jewish, so is a minority himself. Sanchez laughs this off:

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.

If that wasn’t clear, the “yeah” was sarcastic. “I can’t see somebody not getting a job somewhere because they’re Jewish,” says Sanchez.

Via Mediaite, here’s the audio:

Ed Morrissey observes:

Talk about biting the hand that feeds him!  CNN has been rather patient with Sanchez, who hasn’t exactly produced blockbuster numbers.  He’s certainly produced his share of embarrassing moments, however, and whoever runs the show at CNN has kept Sanchez on the air through it all.

Not to mention the fact that pissing off your employer and taking on Jon Stewart in the same interview probably isn’t the smartest thing to do.

It seems that Rick Sanchez has some explaining to do.

UPDATECNN Fires Rick Sanchez

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. James Joyner says:

    Sanchez is a complete moron. He’s almost certainly right, though, when he says that Jews suffer little discrimination in finding employment on television and are past the days when they were an oppressed minority in America.

    On the other hand, I’m truly baffled by the notion that Stewart’s a bigot. That’s a charge that needs more elaboration than “he doesn’t like people who aren’t like him.”

  2. Brummagem Joe says:

    “and are past the days when they were an oppressed minority in America.”

    Cue: Adenoid Hynkel.

    And as best I recall Stewart has never claimed he was an oppressed minority.

  3. Nikki says:

    “On the other hand, I’m truly baffled by the notion that Stewart’s a bigot. That’s a charge that needs more elaboration than ‘he doesn’t like people who aren’t like him.'”

    He obviously has no clue what a bigot is which pretty much classifies him as a complete moron, wouldn’t you say?

  4. legion says:

    Note to self: Watch the Daily Show tonight.

  5. Nick says:

    This is honestly pretty staggering… “he’s a standup comedian,” and, really, that’s all that needs to be said… why it is that someone like Rick Sanchez — who at least adopts the heirs of a legit anchor — would think that it ‘s in his best interest to attack Stewart is beyond me. He’s comparing Beck and Co. to Stewart, but, even barring the degree to which both parties may or may not fail journalistically, this is an absolutely crooked comparison… one side, Beck and co., identify as serious; while the other, Stewart, identifies as a comedian… the analysis really need not go beyond that… the comparison doesn’t hold and Sanchez looks like (and, hell, may indeed be) something of a clown because of it.

  6. John Burgess says:

    I’m hoping that Sanchez is looking at collecting unemployment insurance for a while. But then, I fondly wish that of everyone on CNN or HLN.

    Actually, that’s not true. There on some on HLN–Nancy Grace for one–for whom a grim death would still be an act of grace…

  7. legion,

    Stewart doesn’t record on Fridays, so you’ll have to wait until Monday for what I’m sure will be an interesting response

  8. reid says:

    Sanchez doesn’t seem like the sharpest hammer in the sack, sure, but he sometimes seems to at least try to take an honorable stand on issues, so I give him credit for that. Stewart must’ve been getting to him for Sanchez to say those things. The correct response would be to laugh about it and humbly say, “Yeah, once in awhile I’m a little goofy, but I try to do the right thing!” No good can come from wandering into bigotry territory.

  9. MarkedMan says:

    Sanchez is not worth watching. But the charge of anti-Semitic comments seems out of line here. Stupid? Yes. Politically incorrect? Yes. But not anti-Semitic. To say there is no longer prejudice against Jews is not the same thing as saying that Jews are x.

  10. TG Chicago says:

    I’m really not that familiar with Sanchez. Is that Iceland/volcano thing really his dumbest moment? It was kind of goofy, but he seemed to be joking around. If that’s his biggest airheaded moment (prior to this radio interview), he doesn’t seem that bad.

  11. Grewgills says:

    On the other hand, I’m truly baffled by the notion that Stewart’s a bigot.

    You must have missed Larry Wilmore the other night. Stewart is clearly bigoted against American white christian men.

  12. Brummagem Joe says:

    “Stewart is clearly bigoted against American white christian men.”

    Does this include white christian women who are lookers?

  13. floyd says:

    “”Note to self: Watch the Daily Show tonight.””

    Legion;
    That short term memory problem could be an asset if your planning to watch Stewart! [lol]

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    Oh, I wouldn’t call him “standup”, Nick

  14. Janis Gore says:

    I find this odd and disappointing. Rick Sanchez covering Hurricane Rita, which arrived in the west of Louisiana, was a fresh face after the rest of CNN’s coverage of Katrina.

  15. Grewgills says:

    @ Brummagem Joe,

    Since they aren’t men i would guess no, but check out the segment and judge for yourself

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-21-2010/rally-to-restore-sanity-advice

  16. Brummagem Joe says:

    CNN have canned Sanchez.

  17. Brummagem Joe says:

    “Since they aren’t men i would guess no,’

    Why would Stewart exlude white christian women from his bigotry do you think? Apart from gender all the other bits fit. Old fashioned chivalry?

  18. Sanchez Axed says:

    Adios, Sanchez.

    I loved how Sanchez said, “I have a lot to say on this topic,” but he kept repeating the same things over and over again.

    Good riddance to racist CNN scum.

  19. Nick says:

    @floyd: “Oh, I wouldn’t call him “standup”, Nick”…… “standup” was used in the radio-recording…so not my choice of descriptors, but i do still think the analysis holds: Stewart is not presenting anything akin to an objective take on the world’s news; Sanchez, on the other hand, claimed that he was. The distinction, it seems to me, is obvious and important.

    On a somewhat contradictory note, though, among the bigger points from this whole ordeal is this: regardless of whether or not he’s identifying as an objective source of information—which, at least, on the surface, he’s not—there is a fairly wide swath of folks out there whose understanding of the world is filtered through the likes of Colbert and Stewart, because, simply, they don’t watch anything else.

  20. michael reynolds says:

    This is really a drag.

    Of the many cable TV morons Rick is my favorite moron. Would Bill O’Reilly ever let himself be Tasered? Would Sean Hannity drive a car into a lake? (We can only dream.)

    Rick has always struck me as a pure and uncomplicated moron, a moron without malice, an unspoiled moron. I hope he survives.

  21. floyd says:

    Nick;
    I agree with your second paragraph at least.

    I was making a joke with the “standup” comment.
    In the old days “Standup” meant “honest”, and I was paraphrasing that great line from
    “Office Space”…
    Bob Porter: Looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately.
    Peter Gibbons: Well, I wouldn’t exactly say I’ve been “missing” it, Bob.

  22. floyd says:

    After listening to that Mediaite interview I must say that Sanchez was merely being honest, and he was fired today for the same reason that CNN is unfit to watch, It is run by thin skinned elitist cowards who weild more power than their infantile maturity level deserves.

  23. G.A.Phillips says:

    ***Rick has always struck me as a pure and uncomplicated moron, a moron without malice, an unspoiled moron. ***

    lol! and hardly a racist, even in that he was talking about race and not faith as most liberals, er, morons are taught to do.

    He seemed alright to me, he did not base his entire shelf life upon targeting other more, much,much,much,much more successful talk show hosts like Stewart, Olberpunk, ED the fat communist, and that other Dude that never wears a tie on MSNBKOOK do.

  24. ponce says:

    “I hope he survives.”

    Maybe Mel Gibson will start a news channel.

  25. Brummagem Joe says:

    “Rick has always struck me as a pure and uncomplicated moron, a moron without malice, an unspoiled moron. I hope he survives.”

    I’ve never seen the guy so I’ll take your word for it since I don’t watch much cable TV because as you say he’s not exactly short of company.

  26. floyd says:

    “Rick has always struck me as a pure and uncomplicated moron, a moron without malice, an unspoiled moron.”

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    Seems that you may have mistaken “guile” for intelligence.
    Rick is much more guileless than moronic.

  27. Franklin says:

    I’m sort of “forced” to watch Mr. Sanchez while at the gym, and … well I’m less than impressed. His diatribe turned out to be a good thing insomuch as it got him fired, because as much as I hate cable news, CNN is the one most worth watching (by the process of elimination).

  28. floyd says:

    Franklin;
    I too see watching CNN as akin to watching the “process of elimination”.[LOL]