Editor's Note: What follows is a letter that NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell sent to MSNBC President Phil Griffin early today.
Dear Mr. Griffin,
Last week, in my open letter to you I called for Ed Schultz’s termination. I also called for you to resign as President of MSNBC because you hired Ed Schultz. Today, I have yet another reason you should step down - one which some might argue is even more compelling than Schultz. His name is Al Sharpton.
I have already provided you with ample, documented evidence of Schultz’s repeated, over the top attacks against women, the elderly, tea party activists, and anyone else who happened to be in his crosshairs.
I have also made known the fact that your network is the mouthpiece for the George Soros funded Media Matters, a radical group whose mission is to slander everyone who disagrees with its fringe leftwing ideology. I also pointed out these assaults by MSNBC have nothing to do with what Rush Limbaugh said about Sandra Fluke, and everything to do with censoring prominent voices on the right. Instead of reporting on the woeful state of our economy and the catastrophic debt crisis, MSNBC goes after Limbaugh with entirely unmerited and phony moral righteousness.
The Media Research Center repeatedly discussed, promoted, and circulated these letters in a variety of very public venues last week.
As the President of MSNBC, you are personally responsible for hiring and promoting Ed Schultz.
You have had every opportunity to respond and take responsibility for this situation. Yet, neither you, nor Ed Schultz, nor the Chairman and CEO of Comcast have responded.
Therefore, I now offer you (and everyone reading this) another reason to take responsibility - Al Sharpton.
Al Sharpton - a man who made a name for himself by orchestrating the Tawana Brawley hoax that destroyed innocent lives and also incited race riots that led to the death of an innocent child man.
In addition, some of his greatest hits include:
- Al Sharpton spewing the n-word over and over and over (Listen here)
- Al Sharpton discussing "Chinamen," Koreans, and watermelons (Listen here)
- Al Sharpton denigrating homosexuals-his "Greek homo" routine(Listen here)
- Al Sharpton's "apology" for inflaming a Harlem racial situation by going on about a "white interloper". That incident, by the way, resulted in a death (Listen here)
- Al Sharpton falsely accusing Rush Limbaugh of racism
You fired Pat Buchanan because you didn’t think his book “should be a part of the national dialogue, much less the dialogue on MSNBC.”But you retain Sharpton.
By giving a platform to Al Sharpton on the one hand, and by promoting his campaign to suppress free speech on the other, you're engaging in mind-boggling hypocrisy—hypocrisy unbecoming of a “news” network executive.
While your networkcontinues to attack Limbaugh, you continue to employ Al Sharpton and Ed Schultz. Take responsibility and clean house. If you don’t, we will continue to further expose MSNBC for what it is – a platform for racist, misogynistic, homophobic hate mongers. And we will continue to ratchet up public pressure for your resignation.
I have already contacted Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast (your boss and MSNBC’s parent company). On March 14, we sent him a letter calling on him to demand Schultz’s termination. As I noted in my letter, we intend to take this message directly to the shareholders of Comcast and its board of directors.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
CC: Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast
Editor's Note (March 27, 10:47 a.m.): Corrected from earlier.
