From Paul Bond at the Hollywood Reporter:
He has been on only for a week, but MSNBC’s newest host Lawrence O’Donnell is already channeling Rick Sanchez and Dr. Laura Schlessinger by apologizing for insensitive remarks directed at a minority.
In O’Donnell’s case, it was a show this week where he invoked the imagery of slavery while introducing Michael Steele, the African-American head of the Republican National Committee. O’Donnell apologized for his indiscretion on Wednesday’s show.
“Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can,” O’Donnell began his Steele intro, “trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee.”
He made the remarks before showing a taped interview with Steele, so the interviewee didn’t hear it until viewing the TV show later. Steele called O’Donnell to complain, and O’Donnell played the voice message on Wednesday’s show.
Steele objected to the insinuation he was “a slave to the RNC,” and added: “I’ve had to put up with that crap my entire political life.”
O’Donnell’s gaffe hasn’t attracted the attention Sanchez got when he called Jon Stewart a bigot and insinuated CNN was primarily run by Jews, or that Schlessinger got when she used the “N” word, but some talk-radio hosts, like Larry Elder in Los Angeles, picked up on it.
Full article here.