Fired CNN anchor Rick Sanchez apologized to Jon Stewart for calling him a bigot and implying that Jews control the media.
In a statement issued Oct. 6, Sanchez said he called the star of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” earlier in the week and they had a “very good conversation.”
“As Jon was kind enough to note in his show Monday night, I am very much opposed to hate and intolerance, in any form, and I have frequently spoken out against prejudice,” Sanchez’s statement said. “Despite what my tired and mangled words may have implied, they were never intended to suggest any sort of narrow-mindedness and should never have been made.”
Sanchez, a native of Cuba, alleged during a freewheeling exchange with Pete Dominick, a Latino stand-up comedian and radio show host, that Stewart singled him out as the butt of many jokes because of white bigotry.
Dominick replied that Stewart, because he is Jewish, is himself a member of a minority. Sanchez came back with a rant that implied that the media is run by Jews.
Sanchez’s wife, Suzanne, wrote on her Facebook profile Oct. 4 that “Rick apologized to Jon Stewart today. They had a good talk. Jon was gracious and called Rick ‘thin-skinned.’ He’s right.”
Her husband, she added, was “caught up in the banter and deeply apologizes to anyone who was offended by his unintended comments.” — jta