Last Saturday Savage launched a homophobic tirade against a caller to his MSNBC cable TV show in which called the man "a sodomite" and told him: "Get AIDS and die, you pig."
NBC, which is a co-owner of MSNBC, immediately fired Savage.
Los Angeles radio station KRLA issued a statement Wednesday saying "if accurate, [Savage's remarks] are totally unacceptable to this station and its owner, Salem Communications Corp." What is surprising is Salem is a Christian broadcaster. Los Angeles is the second largest radio market in the country and the "suspension" will mean a sharp decline in the number of listeners to Savage's 'Savage Nation' show.
Salem also announced it was shelving Savage at two of its other stations.
"We will only resume broadcast of his program if we are assured that an outrage of this type will not occur again," said Terry Fahy, the station's general manager in a statement.
Earlier this week Boston's WRKO became the first radio station to take Savage off the air.
Savage continues to be heard on 316 other stations across the country, but the furor which followed his MSNBC attack has led a number of stations to consider their position on carrying the program.
On Tuesday, Savage attempted to quell the uproar by issuing what he called an apology saying he had been set up by a left wing conspiracy. The caller who was the target of Savage's attack turned out to be a prankster who often calls phone in shows with frivolous questions.
Savage Nation is syndicated by Talk Radio Networks. Mike Lofrano, the company's chief operating officer was doing damage control this week offering stations assurances that outbursts like the one on the weekend would not be possible in radio because of a time-delay that gives producers time to hit the squelch button.
"It's never happened on the radio program, nor would it," Lofrano told the LA Times. "We're willing to give those assurances."
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On his website, http://www.michaelsavage.com Savage says "If my comments brought pain to anyone I certainly did not intend for this to happen and apologize for any such reaction."
But he says he shouldn't be blamed for the outburst. Savage claims he was set up and suggests there was a left-wing conspiracy against him.
Savage says he was pulled into the exchange by a "vicious setup caller."
"Out of nowhere a crank caller from a competitive talk show went from describing his airline horror story to making vicious personal attacks against me," said Savage in a statement. "I signaled and thought that this crank caller was cut from the air. His insults continued in my ear piece and I reacted to him personally as an individual who was attacking me to defend myself."
The "explanation" rang hollow for GLAAD's media director Cathy Renna. "Whether it was a prank or not or on the air or not it was unacceptable behavior," Renna told 365Gay.com
"He may not have realized he was on the air but he was on the clock for NBC."
A tape of the broadcast, obtained by GLAAD, differs from Savage's claim that the caller changed topics from "Airline Horror Stories" where listeners were encouraged to call in with their experiences.
When the caller began talking about people smoking in airplane bathrooms Savage cut him off by asking: "So you're one of those sodomists. Are you a sodomite?"
The caller replied: "Yes, I am."
"Oh, you're one of the sodomites," Savage said. "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it."
The caller was Bob Foster, a California man who regularly makes prank calls. Foster said Tuesday that his call had nothing to do with gay issues, but noted that ''if [Savage] is making those kind of comments, those aren't right.''
Renna said the full impact of Savage's tirade and his subsequent firing "has woken up a lot of companies about what is acceptable."
A spokesperson for MSNBC said the company has made its decision on Savage and would have nothing further to say. Savage's syndicated radio talk show continues throughout the country, except in Boston, where WRKO-AM suspended it.
Program director Mike Elder says he is skeptical of Savage's explanation, noting that ''if you've been in broadcasting as long as [Savage has], you know if your lines are live or dead. I have trouble buying that.''
Elder said the show would remain off the air on his station ''at least temporarily,'' pending a conversation with the show's syndicators, the Oregon-based Talk Radio Network.
Elder called Savage's remarks ''over the line'' and said ''I think he's probably a homophobe in reality.'' Elder said he planned to make it clear that if he accepted Savage back on the air, any similar incident would be grounds for permanent cancellation.
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In announcing Savage's departure from the station, owned jointly by NBC and Microsoft, MSNBC spokesperson Jeremy Gaines said "His comments were extremely inappropriate and the decision was an easy one."
"Savage's reprehensible attack violated even the minimal journalistic standards that had been applied to his show," GLAAD News Media Director Cathy Renna told 365Gay.com.
Saturday night's program began quite benign with Savage introducing the topic of "Airline Horror Stories". When one caller began talking about people smoking in airplane bathrooms Savage cut him off by asking: "So you're one of those sodomists. Are you a sodomite?"
The caller replied: "Yes, I am."
"Oh, you're one of the sodomites," Savage said. "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it."
"Michael Savage's latest rant made the clearest possible case for why this kind of behavior has no place on any reputable news network," said Renna.
"MSNBC has now found itself broadcasting exactly the kind of verbal assaults GLAAD's been warning them about for the past five months. And to their credit, MSNBC and NBC News have backed up their promises to hold Savage accountable for his behavior."
Savage, one of the country's most popular right wing radio hosts was hired by MSNBC in March over protests from GLAAD and other LGBT civil rights groups.
In addition to regularly referring to gays as Sodomites, he has railed about "Turd World immigration," called San Francisco "this filthy, drug-ridden vermin city" and, in his new book, wrote that the U.S. "has a 'she-ocracy' where a minority of feminist zealots...have both feminized and homosexualized much of America to the point where the nation has become passive . . . and masochistic."
Savage is the founder of the Paul Revere Society, an extreme right wing organization that advocates closing borders, deporting illegal immigrants, mandating health tests for immigrants and eliminating entitlement programs.
Savage has yet to comment on his firing. He still remains on radio, and Renna said GLAAD will continue to monitor him.
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