Radio Host Taken Off Air For Kennedy Comment

Radio Host Taken Off Air For Kennedy Comment

wbztv.com

PITTSBURGH (WBZ) ― A highly-rated, but highly controversial sports talk show host in Pittsburgh has been taken off the air - possibly for good - for a comment about Sen. Edward Kennedy's cancerous brain tumor.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Mark Madden has been permanently removed from the air from ESPN Radio in Pittsburgh. A spokesman for the network in Bristol, Connecticut, would only tell CBS TV station KDKA that Madden has been taken off the air.

Madden told listeners last Wednesday that, "I'm very disappointed to hear that Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Sen. Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated."

ESPN said Madden's comment about Sen. Kennedy was inappropriate and uncalled for.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I for one am glad this man was fired. It's not a matter of free speech at all; the station has every right to set standards for employees.

There is too much insensitivity in todays discourse. Tasteless jokes like this do not belong on the airwaves.

wbztv.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah it is pretty twisted (also pretty funny) but I am not so sensitive when it comes to high profile public figures, especially politicans. They put themselves out their for their own benefit, so they have to take the good with the bad.

I tend to think if one is a high profile political figure, and the whole country is going to focus on a personal issue, it is only a matter of time before some unsavory comment is made. If it will be that upsetting for the individual or their family they had best be careful what they watch/listen to.

Disgusting. Totally disgusting.

Why is it so many on the right seem to think such comments are acceptable though?

Is that the same Mark Madden with the giant mellon head that used to announce WCW Nitro 7 or 8 years ago? If so, then I have to give him some credit for actually learning how to be humorous since the last time I heard him speak.

reply to post by grover

Disgusting, agreed!
However, before it gets turned into right vs. left sensibilities, do you remember the left making tasteless jokes about Reagans Alzheimers diagnosis, which did kill him? I don't know Maddens politics, and I don't care.
This is about boorish behavior on publicly owned airwaves.

reply to post by LAUGHING-CAT


This is true but at the same time such behavior is far more common for some reason on the right... or it seems to be anyway.

Let's everybody hold our breath and wait for the ACLU to take up Madden's case that his 1st Amendment rights have been violated. On second thought, that's probably not a good idea.

Too bad he wasn't talking about nude pre-pubescent girls since that is apparently an "artsy" topic that should be protected.

Originally posted by grover
Disgusting. Totally disgusting.

Why is it so many on the right seem to think such comments are acceptable though?

Who says that is true? Got any figures to back it up? Why is it that so many people here on ATS posted that they wished Bush would be killed, and so many others never said a word about those posts (in silent agreement?)?

I have actually objected to such posts myself.

Consider the things the likes of Michael Savage and Ann Coulter have said among others... if I wanted to argue with you about it I am sure I could find far more obnoxious comments from the right than on the left...

... but then stupidity has no political leanings.

Originally posted by grover
Why is it so many on the right seem to think such comments are acceptable though?

I must have missed that. Where are the 'so many on the right' that think this is fine?

My comment - I would usually fall in with his right to free speech but you should NEVER make jokes about assassinations and our elected politicians. That's irresponsible. Glad to see him gone.

reply to post by FlyersFan


We have been known to agree flyerfan... and this is one of them... still in light of the faux news commentator's "joke" about assissinating Obama one has to ask why this seems so prevelent on the right.

Originally posted by grover


We have been known to agree flyerfan... and this is one of them... still in light of the faux news commentator's "joke" about assissinating Obama one has to ask why this seems so prevelent on the right.

Whoa.... you need to stop right there. Just because Madden made the idiotic comment about Kennedy doesn't mean he's from the right. He's a blue-collar, union supporting, typical white, male Clinton-supporting oaf from Pittsburgh.

You're not going to push him off onto the "right" that easily.

While I agree that the comment was in poor taste, I think it's just another example of how out of hand peoples sensitivities to political correctness have become. I mean really, is there nothing better to complain about? It's not a right vs. left issue, its a "so the # what" issue.

There are bigger problems facing this country than a local radio host making jokes that might hurt someones feelings.

Well..at least maybe his assassination would be less painful than rotting away with a tumor

reply to post by grover
Again, not right or left, right or wrong.
People allow themselves to be categorized.
People of all stripes say stupid things. People in public life get to say theirs on the air.