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CNN Suspends Roland Martin

LGBT Issues – Following an outcry by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD), CNN announced that it is suspending its commentator, Roland Martin, after he made controversial anti-gay sentiments via twitter during the Super Bowl.

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.

Martin’s controversial tweets calling for “smacking the ish” out of any male fan of the David Beckham underwear commercial, incited GLADD to call for CNN to fire Martin.

Martin’s tweets [during the Super Bowl] advocating violence against gay people weren’t an accident — they are a part of a larger pattern for Martin. Anti-gay violence in America is a serious problem facing millions of Americans. It’s no joke. CNN should fire Roland Martin.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Martin has made inflammatory remarks on his Twitter feed. Comments such as “return your man to the factory if he doesn’t like sports because he must be defective” and “all football hating men should skip the peanuts and grab a bowl of testosterone pills” are common tweets. Not to mention columns he has written, “such as the one in which he compared homosexuality to alcoholism.”

After the announcement, GLADD issued a statement in response.

“CNN today took a strong stand against anti-LGBT violence and language that demeans any community,” GLAAD spokesman Rich Ferraro said. “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 such violence as well as the language that contributes to it.”

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