Another day, another white man in dire need of catching hands.
On Wednesday, radio host Rob Lederman and his Morning Bull co-hosts made some unflattering remarks on-air about superstar athlete Serena Williams, my childhood crush Halle Berry (who is still fine as shit to this very day), and Oprah’s BFF, Gayle King—and by “unflattering,” I mean racist as hell.
What exactly about these remarks made them racist as hell? Because according to the Miami Herald, they compared the skin tones of each of the aforementioned women to settings on a toaster.
No, really.
“I may get in trouble for this, but I have [my settings] to the attractiveness of women that I find to be attractive,” Lederman said. “I will never go to a Serena Williams level. But I’m very comfortable with a Halle Berry level. I need a little bit of mulatto still coming through.”
“Is Gayle King not in your realm?” co-host Chris Klein asks between laughs.
“No, Gayle King is not even on my toaster,” Lederman responds.
Mr. Lederman, the bottom of my shoe would love to have a word with you. But you gotta wait until I get off work since only one of us is gainfully employed.
Unsurprisingly, as word of Lederman’s racist bullshit began to circulate in the news and contaminate the rest of the Internet, his employer, radio station 97 Rock in Buffalo, N.Y., told him to kick rocks. However, don’t think getting fired has spared Lederman the wrath of the Internet.
“It’s despicable on so many levels,” Twitter user @jdfrank74 tweeted. “The word ‘mulatto,’ the dehumanization of black women, and the woman chiming in with Gayle King because she’d rather be ‘one of the guys’ than stand up for other women. Dude even days he knew it’d probably get him in trouble, too.”
In between filing for unemployment and fearing for his life after having the audacity to come for our queens, Lederman issued a statement apologizing for his behavior.
“I want to sincerely apologize for hurting people with my foolish and ignorant comments yesterday,” he wrote. “Ater listening to what I said, and how it must have sounded to others, I was horrified. I 100% understand why people are justifiably angry. I made a mistake and it’s hard to look myself in the mirror, but I want to acknowledge it. I apologize from the deepest depths of who I am.”
That’s cute, Rob. But on behalf of the Black Delegation, we’d much rather you [REDACTED TO PRESERVE MY JOB; BECAUSE UNLIKE YOU, I’D PREFER TO REMAIN GAINFULLY EMPLOYED].
Maybe one of these years Black women will be able to go a single day without being maligned, suppressed, or disrespected. But until that day arrives, trust and believe individuals such as myself will do our part to protect them at all costs.
In the meanwhile, have fun explaining to your landlord why your rent is late, Rob.