

His more outrageous comments are bound to offend one element or another of the population from time to time, but any suggestion that such a rare journalistic voice should be silenced indicates a dangerous weakness in our pluralistic, democratic society.” “He is an independent thinker and a courageous social critic. “I’ve known Rooney for almost half a century and I know he’s not a racist,” Cronkite said. Network officials declined to explain Thursday why Rooney had been suspended rather than dismissed.įormer CBS anchor Walter Cronkite released a statement in Rooney’s defense. In 1988, CBS fired Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder as a sports analyst after he told a Washington television station that blacks were bred to be better athletes than whites.

Hooks added that the NAACP did not wish to “rush to judgment in this matter” and sought a “further and thorough investigation.” We think CBS has made a good beginning in imposing a three-month suspension.” “We have been greatly distressed over this incident.

for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a statement. Hooks, executive director of the National Assn. “We are pleased that CBS has moved so promptly,” Benjamin J. But the statements show that different kinds of bigotry can exist in the same person.” “It’s unfortunate that it may have taken racial remarks rather than homophobic ones to push it over the line. “We feel that justice has been done,” Craig Davidson, executive director of GLAAD, said in response to the suspension Thursday. In a previous letter to The Advocate, Rooney had apologized for offending gays in the special and promised to be “more careful.” But representatives from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) were meeting this week for the second time with executives at CBS News to discuss Rooney’s remarks in the special and overall reporting on gays in the news. (are) all known to lead quite often to premature death.”
Andy rooney quotes tv#
The network had not taken any action against Rooney following protests from homosexual-rights groups over his December TV special, “The Year With Andy Rooney,” in which he said that in 1989 people had recognized that many self-induced ills, such as “too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes. Rooney has been with CBS since 1959 and became a regular on the popular “60 Minutes” in September, 1978.
