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July 08, 2003

Donate

Five months ago MSNBC overhauled their schedule. The network’s most progressive voice Phil Donahue was out. A team of well known conservatives were quickly hired.

An internal study leaked to media critic Rick Ellis, described Donahue as a "a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace."

The report went on to say that Donahue presented a difficult face for NBC at a time of war. The station feared that Donahue’s show would become "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

One of his replacements was Michael Savage.

Let’s take a listen to an excerpt from his most recent show on Saturday.

“MICHAEL SAVAGE: So you’re one of those sodomists. Are you a sodomite?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I am.

MICHAEL SAVAGE: Oh, you’re one of the sodomites. 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. Get trichinosis.

OK, do we have another nice caller here who’s busy because he didn’t have a nice night in the bathhouse who’s angry at me today? Get me another one, put another sodomite on. No more calls out of— let’s go to the next scene. I don’t care about these bums. They mean nothing to me. They’re all sausages. Next scene; onto the next scene on the Savage Nation.

Those are the words of Michael Savage.

Well yesterday MSNBC decided enough was enough and fired Michael Savage. But Savage nightly radio show remains on over 300 stations.

• Michael Savage, radio and TV host recorded on MSNBC July 5, 2003. He was fired from MSNBC yesterday.
• Steve Rendall, senior analyst at FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.