CNN Suspends Roland “#TeamWhipDatAss” Martin For Homophobic Tweets
Roland Martin messed with a David Beckham underwear ad, and it just got him fired (at least temporarily) from his plum gig as a CNN commentator.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Martin sent out tweets to his almost 100,000 followers saying: “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl” and “Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass.”
This isn’t the first time Martin’s said dumb sh*t—back in 2009 we slammed him for penning an idiotic defense of Carrie Prejean. But it’s the first time he’s suffered real consequences from his abuse of his soapbox.
CNN released the following statement to the Washington Post:
“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”
While it did take CNN three whole days to address the issue—a fact GLAAD duly noted as early as yesterday, and gave Martin time to mumble that he was talking about soccer players, not homos—their suspension is strong and stated in no uncertain terms, which is better than a hastily issued softball apology that keeps him on air.
Thanks to CNN for showing the viewing public that words matter.
And thanks to Roland, who now suddenly cares that a terrible gay-bashing happened to a member of Atlanta’s black LGBT community.
Photos via CNN, Twitter
CNN got it right. Roland Martin has a disturbing history of taking homophobic positions such as supporting Tracy Morgan after he said he would kill his son if he said he was gay.
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@Steven: In the same way that ‘we’ continue to ‘whine’ about homophobia and transphobia in America. Not only is your choice of words condescending, but it also misses the point that this situation presents an opportunity from which we can all grow. Racism, as homophobia, is still a real and very legitimate problem. If maybe ‘we’ can work with homophobes who point out racism and racists who point out homophobia maybe we’ll move on (somewhere) for the better.
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His wife runs an ex gay ministry and he himself is ordained. This is no surprise, and his history of homophobia is well documented.
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His wife runs an ex gay ministry and he himself is ordained. This is no surprise, and his history of homophobia is well documented. He has compared homosexuality to alcoholism and all sorts of vile statements. CNN is on the right side of this one.
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@Shannon1981: If his wife runs one of THOSE, then…yes, it’s pretty clear where he’s coming from.
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@CBRad: Yeah, I am sorry but the time has passed when such people can spew this dangerous nonsense unchecked.
Also, response to the PFOX mess:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/385208028161075/
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@Shannon1981: I really hadn’t known that about him. I would have dismissed what he said as just silly football-fan stupidity, but now that I know his wife runs the ex-gay ministry (which is really just a psychological torture thing) it takes on a whole new dimension.
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His wife & friends have declared his suspension, “a high-tech lynching” and claimed that gays have sought equality on the “heritage of the civil rights struggle of black people.”
Ummm…. or maybe your husband/friend is a homophobe & the days are numbered for your own bigoted racism.
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Martin is a vile troll.
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Weird. I only rarely watch CNN but I always thought of him as a liberal Democrat. I thought the supported President Obama.
Why is he tweeting about soccer and football games anyway. If he’s a commentator, he should take his role seriously and tweet about important issues.
Twitter and celebrities is a dangerous mix. Celebrities would be better off staying far away from twitter. It only gets them into trouble.
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cnn and glaad are now being called racist for making complaints and his suspension
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Calling CNN and GLAAD racist is a cowardly, scraping the bottom of the barrel cop out. Don Imus, Rick Sanchez…and on and on….was that racist too? PUH-LEEEZE. Man up Rolly, …take it like a man. You’re a bigot and incompetent to be on CNN….get it bruh ???
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OK ALL glbtqaip folk need 2 start sending HETEROPHOBIC rants for a little while so that the str8ts get a taste of their awful medicines. I AM SOO SERIAL! Southpark refrence, sooo totally, like mmmkay?!!!!