TWEET DECK

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

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