Tweet
“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”
That was the statement released by CNN, after political analyst Roland Martin was suspended for ridiculous, homophobic Tweets, kicked off by his reaction to this commercial that aired during the Super Bowl:
“If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl”
After watching the above ad, you have to wonder why it got Martin hot and bothered (enough to think about it possibly arousing a man) to unleash that self-protective Tweet. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called for Martin to be fired, it launched a campaign to call attention to the talking head’s history of homophobia beyond 140 characters, including a defense of the anti-LGBT comments of Tracy Morgan hours after the comic had repudiated his own hateful words, and praise for Martin’s wife’s ex-gay therapy practice. On February 7, Martin posted an “apology“:
“To those who construed my comment as being anti-gay or homophobic or advancing violence, I’m truly sorry. I can certainly understand how someone could come to a different conclusion than the one I meant. I’m disheartened that my words would embolden prejudice. While public debate over social issues is healthy, no matter which side someone takes, there is no room for debate as to whether we need to be respectful of others.”
GLAAD issued this response to CNN’s decision:
“CNN today took a strong stand against anti-LGBT violence and language that demeans any community,” said Rich Ferraro, GLAAD spokesperson. “Yesterday, Martin also spoke out against anti-LGBT violence. We look forward to hearing from CNN and Roland Martin to discuss how we can work together as allies and achieve our common goal of reducing anti-LGBT violence as well as the language that contributes to it.”
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that violence against LGBT people was up 23 percent last year. 70 percent of the victims murdered were people of color, and 44 percent were transgender women.
Some have insulted Martin’s personal character and race when discussing this issue. GLAAD strongly condemns these attacks. There is no excuse for race based attacks or hate speech.
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An important aside – the fact that GLAAD had to make a statement alluding to attacks on Martin because of his race, or any other personal qualities (ostensibly referring to members of the LGBT community responding to his homophobia) raises a problematic issue – racism in the LGBT community. It’s there, and seems to pop up during incidents like this; it has no relevance to the discussion – Martin owns what he says, no one else. His blackness, or mine, speaking as someone who is black and part of the LGBT community as well, shouldn’t be an issue, but time and again, bigots in our community show their faces — and show just how little regard they hold for black members of the LGBT community who suffer discrimination on both sides of the fence.
On the flip side, I received emails and tweets in the wake of the dust up accusing GLAAD of “picking on” black homophobes more than white homophobes. Are we in kindergarten? I’m not keeping tabs on the demographics of who gets embarrassed by GLAAD for having their homophobia put out for all to see. How is tossing the race card out there a sane defense for Martin’s long history of comments that proves he has a problem with masculinity and gender issues that he expresses in homophobic ways? No one made him say what he did, pointing it out is not racist on its face.
A lot of people need to grow up on both sides of the fence. Homophobia and racism cannot be tolerated. They are two sides of the same coin.
13 Comments
Jackassedness is a race-less, gender-less, age-less, faith-less equal-opportunity condition. Martin is most definitely a jackass, and anybody who doubts his tweet was borne of some measure of homophobia is a naive fool (or is himself homophobic).
(Martin also demonstrated a fool’s lack of taste. I’m a lesbian who joins gay men and anybody with two good eyes in regarding Beckham’s body as an item of pure beauty. But this is another matter.)
Looks like he done got his ascot.
Roland Martin regularly brags about his wife’s successful “practice” in the pray-away-the-gay conversion therapy business. Given his repeated examples of homophobia, I’ve always wondered if he considers himself one of her exemplars.
I’m very glad to see you make the ‘two sides of the same coin’ argument here, Pam. Judging, harassing, menacing, and/or violently acting upon one’s hateful views of someone’s immutable characteristics are the same thing regardless of the specific immutable characteristic involved. It is ALL wrong.
You need to check out both JoeMyGod and AmericaBlogGay to see the tweets today from Roland Martin’s wife. She has since deleted them and is claiming she was “hacked”.
She tweets the point that the LGBT community used the black civil rights history to gain our equality and now we stab the point man in the back. She concludes that we needn’t ask them for anything more in the future……
She’s also referring to this as a high-tech lynching.
I saw the tweets, and it illustrates my point — tossing out the race card as a defense is ludicrous. It only reinforces the fact that Martin’s wife reads gay=white. As if there are no black gay folks or that a gay black man — Bayard Rustin — was the heart of the civil rights movement she says we are coasting on. Unbelievable.
Tweet from Martin tonight: RT @rolandsmartin: I look forward to meeting with GLAAD in the near future and having a productive dialogue.
Did you also see the ridiculous statement yesterday from Michael Steele, former RNC Chair? While participating in a panel discussion about prop 8 on MSNBC on the Alex Wagner program “NOW” he stated that the LGBT community was not entitled to federal level civil rights protections in the same way as African Americans are because….. when a black man walks into a room you can immediately see he is black. But, when a gay man walks into a room you can’t immediately see he is gay. He said this was a widely held belief in the African American community, including his own beliefs, and any comparison between gay marriage and inter-racial marriage was offensive.
So, according to Michael Steele, federal civil rights protections are to be based not only on immutable characteristics, but also on characteristics that are required to be visible. Steele believes that members of the LGBT community can avoid discrimination by “passing” or “pretending to be straight”.
I find Steele’s statements to be every bit as offensive as those of Roland Martin.
Steele is such a buffoon — just look at his tenure heading up the GOP — that it’s hard to take anything he says seriously. His ignorance is just par for the course.
Well, on the plus side, we no longer have to have protections for “Christians” in the law, ’cause you sure as heck can’t tell who is or isn’t a “Christian” when they walk in the room.
Steele is a buffoon. This line of “reasoning” is absurd. Lots of Jews could pass as Gentiles, but their civil rights are affirmed by law. Atheists too.
I bring up the issue of Michael Steele to ask why GLAAD isn’t going after him for his comments. Or, by the way, why isn’t GLAAD going after CNN and MSNBC for continuing to put Tony Perkins, the head of an officially designated hate group, on the air as some sort of legitimate political analyst.
If Roland Martin’s comments make him unacceptable for an on-air analyst position, why aren’t we hearing the same level of complaint from GLAAD and the LGBT community about Steele and Perkins?
That’s a fair point…and it has been brought up that Perkins out and out lies…
The difference there that i can see is that Steele and Perkins represent the political class whereas Martin is a regular political commentator and an employee of CNN.
Thank you Pam, for this.
The personal insults don’t bother me one bit, to be honest (in fact, I called Martin a fathead in one forum) but race-based insults are inexcusable.
WOW! The temperature in hell must have dropped to arctic levels and pigs must be on runways everywhere prepping for takeoff if Pam is actually saying stuff like this. Racism in the LGBT community is never discussed around here. Times must be hard if Pam has finally taken notice…
Oops…spoke too soon. False equivalency here we come…
Somewhere someone is having an honest discussion of this topic…but it probably won’t be happening here. Too much time has been spent bashing black men from every corner.