The feminist media watchdog group the Women’s Media Center (WMC) is calling on MSNBC to suspend television host Ed Schultz for calling conservative talker Laura Ingraham a “slut.”
“While conservative bloggers and watchdog organizations are highlighting Schultz’s remark, the Women’s Media Center also calls on MSNBC to suspend Schultz for his comments, since they not only attack Ingraham, but all women,” the group wrote in an alert Wednesday. “Ms. Ingraham is no friend to the Women’s Media Center, but a sexist and misogynist attack based on her gender and not her political views or comments is harmful to women in media, politics, and beyond.”
Schultz called Ingraham a “talk slut” and a “right-wing slut” on his radio program Tuesday for her criticism of the president’s trip to Ireland while the Midwest was reeling from severe weather.
“And what do the Republicans thinking about?” Schultz said. “They’re not thinking about their next-door neighbor. They’re just thinking about how much this is going to cost. President Obama is going to be visiting Joplin, Mo., on Sunday but you know what they’re talking about, like this right-wing slut, what’s her name?, Laura Ingraham? Yeah, she’s a talk slut. You see, she was, back in the day, praising President Reagan when he was drinking a beer overseas. But now that Obama’s doing it, they’re working him over.”
The WMC noted that MSNBC has had a problem with sexist comments made on the part of its hosts — notably Chris Matthews’ “derogatory coverage” of Hilary Clinton and David Shuster’s comments about Chelsea Clinton being “pimped out” by the Clinton campaign. Matthews comments resulted in MSNBC demoting Matthews from the election anchor to a political commentator and Shuster was suspended from the channel.
“Yet, the networks’ ‘progressive’ male anchors and commentators aren’t learning their lessons,” The WMC wrote.
“Ingraham provides enough fodder for progressive criticism that such base attacks have no place in coverage,” they added. “As a new generation of women enter media and politics, such comments dissuade women from exposing themselves to vile attacks, and perpetuate inequality in newsrooms and in congress.”