CNN news anchor Rick Sanchez labeled Daily Show host Jon Stewart as a “bigot” and expressed his opinion that everyone in positions of power in the mainstream media is Jewish during his appearance on XM Sirius radio’s Stand-Up with Pete Dominick yesterday. One day later, CNN issued the following statement: “Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.” After Sanchez claimed that Stewart is bigoted against “everybody who’s not like him,” Dominick, a former warm-up comic for Stewart, defended his friend and proclaimed that he is also a minority as a Jewish American. Dominick remained firm in his stance, which led to Sanchez offering the controversial rebuttal that ultimately resulted in his firing.
“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 his country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah,” he said, resulting in a firestorm of controversy within the Jewish community.
Sanchez is known for making incendiary comments. The LA Times recalls that on August 30, he unforgettably referred to Barack Obama as a “cotton picking president.”
