After talk-radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger said the N-word eleven times in the span of five minutes during an on-air conversation with a caller earlier this week, she has issued a public apology, claiming she used the word to make a “philosophical point.”
“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.”
Tuesday’s exchange took place when Schlessinger told a black caller that she was being too sensitive when complaining about her white husband’s friends making racist comments about her in their house. She went on to use the N-word multiple times in an attempt to reflect how frequently she hears the word on television and elsewhere. When the caller objected, Schlessinger responded that “black guys say it all the time” and continued “oh, then I guess you don’t watch HBO or listen to any black comedians.” Schlessinger said on air after the call that the woman shouldn’t have entered in an interracial marriage if she was so “hypersensitive about color and [didn’t] have a sense of humor.”
In her apology, Schlessinger said she “was so upset [by the conversation with the caller that she] could not finish the show,” explaining: “I pulled myself off the air at the end of the hour … I am very sorry. And it just won’t happen again.”
Dr. Laura’s N-Word Rant: Radio Host Apologizes For Offensive Language [HuffPo]
Dr. Laura Repeats N-Word Multiple Times on Air [CBS News]
